Returning To Darkness
by laraandkurtisfan97
Summary: After her second visit to Paris, Lara Croft is haunted by demons from her past. With dangerous shadows lurking at every corner, she is forced into a battle with new allies, old enimies and the duty of the human race. Sequal to With or Without You. LCxKT
1. Haunted

Haunted

**AN: See, I'm back already, I told you the wait wouldn't be that long! So, here's the first chapter of the second instalment to the With or Without You trilogy. **

**FOR PEOPLE JUST TUNING IN, THIS IS A SEQUAL TO WITH OR WITHOUT YOU (Just incase)**

**I realise I said I would put this up tomorrow morning, but the new story thing has been calling to me, and, me being me, I gave in. But I'm sure don't mind.**

**Disclaimer: I own no one.**

**Oh, and I've gotten rid of Bryce in this story, replaced for Alistair and Zip, like what would happen in Legend. But, if you read on, you'll find out how he went away...**

* * *

Rain. Wind. Thunder. Lightning. Typical British weather, only adding to the ever growing depression. Mostly rain and dull weather. She didn't appreciate it enough when the sun came out. Lara stared at the buckets of rain splashing on the ground, watched the wind blow the trees violently back and forth, leaving them lopsided from the loss of the support of their roots. She would blink every so often at the sudden streaks of lighting that came from the sky and relax into the comforting sound of the thunder. But it wasn't the most typical of the island's weather. Rain was, she knew for sure, but they didn't get thunder and lighting frequently. Wind, sure, they got plenty of that. This was one of the worst storms she had ever seen before.

And to make it worse, she was alone. Well, not alone, alone, but she didn't feel like she had company. Ever since that last day with Kurtis in Paris, she had felt almost..._empty_. Bryce had left for a job with a better pay, which, by what Lara paid for him to sit around in a trailer all day, scoffing down burgers, chips and fizzy drinks, was hard to beat. But she had let him go all the same. Just like how she had let everyone else in her life slip away from her. A few weeks after that, she had met a fellow archaeologist Alistair Fletcher at a dinner party at a museum, discussing a recent find she had made. They had clicked almost immediately and he quickly became a good friend of hers. And now, only three months later, he was helping her on her adventures, with the helping hand of her new 'geek', Zip. Alistair had introduced her to him and she heard he was looking for a job, and, Bryce's old position being vacant, offered him one. They had helped her on many occasions, including the quest for Excalibur; where she was unfortunate enough to discover that James Rutland had survived the cave-in. But he didn't survive more than a week after their second encounter.

She still had Winston, but let's face it, he was getting older and increasingly worried about Lara on her expeditions. She couldn't hold onto him forever. He had looked after her most of her life. More than her parents, even. He was the one to teach her to say please and thank-you, to eat with your mouth closed and overall discipline her. He was more of a dad to her than her father had ever been. But, still, Winston could never seem to be able to fill the motherly role. Something Lara missed out on. Growing up, she didn't have a mum, something painful she had learned to cope with. She didn't have anyone to talk to about things that mother and daughter would talk about. Stuff like boys and her first period, and just have fun altogether. But she had to grow up without that privilege. She was raised by a man most of her life, and when her father had tragically died, she was raised by an elderly man. And at the age of 18, she wasn't the easiest of teenagers to cope with, being the typical Lara Croft.

And now she had lost two more people – Kurtis and Bryce. Bryce was a true best friend to her. He always looked at the better sides of things, and Lara would often find herself in stitches after just five minuets of being alone with him. He had always made her laugh, so much, she often felt like her sides were going to split. A smile graced her face. Even thinking about all the good times she had had with him made her smile. She wouldn't face times like that any time soon, she assumed. In fact, she wasn't sure if she would face times like that ever again. And than there was Kurtis. Her childhood sweet-heart, Demon Hunter, her equal both mentally and physically, fellow adventurer, the man she...

No, she couldn't think it. It would hurt her too much. She had lost so many people that she loved in her life, right from an early age of nine. And it was still continuing throughout her life. Maybe Kurtis leaving was for the better. Everyone she seemed to love were always taken away from her. In the four months that had past in the time he had left; she had changed. It would take longer for people to get in. She hadn't even considered calling Alistair a friend until she had truly learnt everything about him. Zip was just another employee, slightly filling the gap that Bryce had left, but he was nothing compared to him. She had built mental walls up, so that if anyone was willing to get threw to her, they would have to put up one hell of a fight. She figured if it took longer for them to get in, they would give up and save themselves from, well, Lara. It was like she was a jinx. Everyone who was close to her died or betrayed her. She could name a few people who had.

Which, reluctantly brought her thoughts back to the man that is Kurtis Trent. It was his fault she was like this; depressed. Or, at least, on the road to depression. If he had just stayed, Bryce might still be here and Winston would know that she was safe. Well...partially anyway. He didn't really trust Kurtis much. After Bolivia, she had given up. Her passion for raiding was lost. The same reason being the reason why she had given up everything else – she was scared. She had encountered her old friend, now enemy, Amanda Everet. During college, they were always together. Some people even made remarks about them being super glued together. Which, were lies, of course. Amanda had turned against her, betraying Lara like what she had thought Lara had done to her. But what was past, was past. Lara had to let go. If she didn't, more people would get hurt. Any relationship she had with anybody, whether it be friends or partners, had been a time bomb; just waiting to explode.

Lara watched the rain glide down the window, leaving streaks of water in the place of which the raindrop had just been. The wind blew more violently and she heard some books rattle on the bookshelf in the library. She had cooped herself up from the outside world. She was usually found in the library, reading over a book that she had read so many times before, or in the gym, releasing her anger of everything that had happened in her so called life out on the equipment. She did that a lot recently - vent her anger on the closest thing. Winston had once found her in the kitchen, trashing it as she sobbed. The events of Paris had just hit her and she suddenly went from sad to angry, throwing things around the room as Winston tried to convince her that she would be OK without Kurtis. It was true, but Lara still hadn't wanted to believe it.

The rain became heavier and started to come threw the gutter, just outside of the window. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Zip had placed a new security camera just outside of that window in the library, the room being the room Lara was now most comfortable in. Obviously, he hadn't done a very good job. She got up and walked over to a chest of drawers, where a box of tissues sat. She pulled a couple out and turned back around.

She returned to the desk, moving past it and towards the window. She placed them down before pressing them down on the window sill, trying to soak up the water that had already came threw. As she looked out at the grounds of Croft Manor, she could have sworn she saw a figure standing there, just before the front gates. She suddenly felt alarmed as she remembered that she was the only one awake in the house; everyone else had retired for bed at least an hour ago that evening. She automatically reached for the Glock 22 in her thigh holster. She had learned to never go anywhere without her trusty pistols. Her grip tightened on the handle as the figure seemed to be staring right back at her. A flash of lightning came, so bright, Lara was forced to squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them, she found the figure nowhere to be seen and felt the adrenaline she had not felt in such a long time rise in her blood.

She glanced frantically around the grounds, searching for the mysterious figure. She was scared yet excited at the same time. Feeling her guns in her hands with an actual target, not just a bit of paper to fire at, around her made the excitement rise. There was still no sign of the person.

She jumped around and released the safety on her gun as she felt a hand being placed on her shoulder, but relaxed herself when she saw a tired looking Zip standing in front of her. He yawned and raised his hand to his face, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Watch where you're pointing that thing." he half mumbled, half yawned as he motioned towards the pistol Lara was still holding.

She placed it back in it's holster, realising she had it aimed at Zip's head. "Sorry, I... thought I saw something." she glanced back at the window, still seeing nothing in the rain.

"Are you not tired? It's past midnight, Lara."

"Erm. I was just looking for my...em...switchblade." she lied.

"Well, I'm going back to my bed. Don't stress yourself Lara. You've been worrying too much." he said as he opened the door to the library and exited into the hall, dragging himself to his bedroom.

Lara looked back out of the window, her eyes immediately darting to the spot the figure had been a minuet ago. "Yeah, just worrying." and she hoped that there was nothing to worry about. Getting killed in her sleep was the last way she wanted to go. When ever she was going to die, she wanted to put up a fight. Nobody was going to take Lara Croft's life that easily. She hesitantly turned around, ignoring the feeling in her stomach and walked out of the library, hoping to get some sleep that she felt she needed. A lot.

* * *

_She gasped for breath as another blow came to her back. She quickly pushed the pain aside and continued to sprint down the endless alley's. She could see the green lights on the walls either side of her and now was the time she had doubted her decisions. She doubted her decisions for doubting him, if that was even possible. An orb of energy flew around to her front, hitting her square on the face. _

_Her skin burned as she stumbled backwards, falling onto her back. She looked up as the dark shadow of the figure strolled casually towards her, holding green orbs of energy about his hands effortlessly. His long coat flowed behind him as he stopped, a few feet away from her. She was tired. Too tired. All she wanted to do was to curl up into a ball and crawl into a corner, almost seizing to exist. She couldn't fight any more. She was so tired. But she had to fight. Giving up would mean death. _

_She got back up and ran as fast as she could, barley being able to see where she was going from the burning fire in her eyes. Her stomach dropped as she faced a wall. A dead end. No way out. The only way out was back. And going back certainly wouldn't mean getting out. If anything, it meant choosing a slow, horrible death. She gulped and turned around, gripping the pistols at her thighs on top of her jeans. She withdrew them and aimed them at the figure, knowing her final moments had come. Bullets couldn't do anything. But she couldn't give up. She could at least distract him with pain. But that would only last a couple of seconds. No weapons she had could harm him - or it, rather. _

_His appearance changed before her and she hated him for changing into that form as she found tears swelling up in her eyes. She couldn't fight him. No matter how much her brain willed her to, her heart would never let her harm him. But she needed to. It wasn't him. "Change back!" she screamed as she took the safety off of her guns. _

"_Change back!" she could never fight him while in this form. Not while he had those piercing blue eyes and raven black hair. Never._

Lara shot bolt upright in her bed. Her head was dripping with sweat and her bedsheets soaking from it. She gasped for breath and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. She had to admit; that was a dream she wasn't expecting. But why did she suddenly have it? It wasn't as if anything had happened related to it. It had been five months since she had last seen the horrifying face of that man. A face she had hoped to never happen again. She pushed the covers aside of her body and swung her feet over the side of the bed, sitting straight until resting her head in her hands. She actually felt scared from a dream, something that didn't regularly happen. Maybe she felt fear because she knew this dream could actually mean something. But what, was the harder question to answer.

She got up and walked threw the door to her en-suite bathroom. Placing her switchblade on the side of the sink, she ran the cold tap and leaned down, splashing her face with the refreshing water. She felt calm as the water spread across her face, cooling the skin that had been burning a minuet ago. She reached out for the towel next to the sink and dabbed her face dry before looking up into the mirror. Her face turned pale as she saw the figure behind her and she immediately reached for the switchblade next to her and turned on her heel, aiming the knife at neck-point. She sighed with relief as she saw that she was alone. Her mind was playing tricks on her. It couldn't have been him. He was dead. Long dead. Rotting under a heep of rubble with all the other bastards that deserved to die that day. She was hallucinating. She knew it. _Keep telling yourself that_ a voice argued in her head. But he _was_ dead. She had killed him herself. The figure haunted her mind, though.

Joachim Karel.

* * *

**AN: Right, I'll give you a quick time line in case some of the things were complicated to understand.**

**Right, about two weeks after Kurtis left, Bryce got offered a new job with a better pay, for which he left Lara.**

**A week after that, she met Alistair and Zip, offering them a job to help her.**

**Three months after that, she went on the quest for Excalibur (TRL)**

**And this is set a month after that, meaning four months after Kurtis left and five months since AOD.**

**Anyway, what do you think? Love it or hate it? Let me know in your reviews!**

**Catch you on Wednesday for the next chapter. **


	2. Scared Yet?

Scared Yet?

**So, here's chappy 2! Now, I realise I kinda got into the whole Karel thing a lot quicker (with Lara being scared in the first chapter and all), but, this is going to be a thick-plot story, so, fortunately, we won't be seeing Karel for a little while, but unfortunately, we won't be seeing Kurtis for a little while either. Well, you'll see him in about two chapters, but it'll take a little while for the fluffiness. Which, once I get started on fluff, will be hard to stop. You don't call me laraandkrtisfan97 for nothing y'know!**

**Oh, and a message for ExtremeRainbowRaiderPrincess: I have finally managed to get Eclipse in the Twilight series and shocked my Twilight obsessed friends by joining – rather, shouting into – the conversation by saying something they didn't expect me to know. Just shows you, I'm full of surprises. And if you haven't got it yet, it is a good book. It's worth reading. **

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Lara rubbed her eyes, just making sure her mind was playing tricks on her. When she removed her hand from her face, she was alone, as she had been from the moment she entered the room. She turned back to the mirror and her face fell when she saw the words written on the now steamed mirror: 'Scared yet?'.

She turned back around and exited the room with her blade in her hand. She ran over to the light switch and flicked it on, narrowing her eyes at the sudden burst of light. She searched threw all of her bedroom, which didn't take very long, and found nothing. When she returned to the bathroom, the words weren't there. She was loosing it. She knew it. Maybe her life HAD taken a turn for the worse. She looked up as she saw Winston enter the bathroom, not noticing the knocking on her bedroom door, presumably Winston asking for permission to enter. "Are you alright, Lara? I heard your screams."

"Winston, did Zip notice anyone near here on the security?" she asked, completely ignoring his question.

"He didn't say anything, no. Are you sure you're OK, Miss Croft?"

Lara smiled at the butler's concern, "I'm fine, thank-you Winston." she brushed it aside, as if it were nothing. But it didn't feel like nothing.

"I shall be downstairs if you need me." he made his way over to the door of her bedroom, before Lara stopped him, "Winston, what time is it?"

"Just after six o'clock." and then he left.

Lara was glad that she didn't have to try and sleep again. She would be too worried in case she had another one of her dreams. _Nightmares_ more like, that little voice argued again. Where had that voice came from? It had seemed to pop up out of nowhere with the walls she had built up, _I'm something you might call a conscience, _it answered for her. She doubted she would have gotten to sleep anyway. Each shadow would seem like a threat, Lara probably flinching at the slightest of movements. She would never get to sleep when she was so stressed.

She walked threw to her wardrobe and pulled out something comfortable and easy to wear before making her way back to the bathroom – making sure to take her pistols with her – turning the water tap on to almost the hottest it would go and the room almost immediately filled up with steam. She stepped into the shower after discarding her clothing and let the water relax her muscles. She had a lot on her mind.

She closed her eyes and let her body relax into the hot, steamy shower. The water flowed over her body and with it, the stress of the past few months.

She was snapped out of her comfort as she heard a scream from downstairs. Dreading the worst, she jumped out of the shower with the water still running and slipped her clothes on with ease. _Good job I chose combats instead of jeans_ she thought as she pulled her trousers on after her vest top. She pulled her hair back into a low, loose ponytail and grabbed her guns, rushing out of the bathroom and out into the landing. She scanned the area down below and rushed down the stairs to Alistair who was sitting with a book, "What is it? What's wrong?" she asked.

Alistair chuckled, making Lara look at him as if he were mad. "Zip was installing a new security camera and he had a little fall."

Lara jumped as she heard Zip's voice from behind them, "A little?! I'm lucky to be alive!"

Lara stood there, blocking out the bickering coming from her two companions. She suddenly removed one of her pistols from their holsters and fired a bullet at a lurking shadow. It was still dark in most parts of the house – the storm from the night before was continuing, minus the thunder and lighting. Alistair and Zip jumped and turned their attention to Lara who was staring hard at the shadow. "Are you OK, Lara?" Zip asked.

Lara snapped out of her trance, still keeping her eye on the shadow, "Yeah, I just thought I saw something." _Brilliant excuse_ she thought. _You've already used that one._

"You positive?" he asked again.

"Why does everyone think that I'm not alright?! I'm perfectly fine. Hunky dory, even. Fandabidosy. Now will you just leave-me-alone!" she stomped back upstairs, slamming her bedroom door shut behind her. She sighed as she walked back into the bathroom, avoiding the pool of water that had formed on the floor and turned the tap to the 'off' position on the shower.

She emerged from the bathroom, grabbing her pistols again before walking out of the bedroom, downstairs and outside. She needed to vent her anger on something, and she hadn't had a good run on her assault course for some time. She threw the front door open, despite Winston's future protests, and headed straight for the course. She walked to the start of the course and looked at her watch. _Three, two, one!_ And she raced off, hopping over the first platform before jumping bigger gaps as she progressed. Being outside in the poring rain, soaking wet and not wearing a jacket might mean her catching neumonia, but right now, Lara didn't care.

She ran and jumped onto the climbing wall, pulling herself along as fast as she could. She grunted as she pulled herself up and took deep breaths, looking at the challenge ahead. After a few years of training on the same old course, she had Zip order some new blocks and climbing apparatus. In front of her were monkey bars, a sloped block down below them, a swinging pole, a rope and a set of other blocks, all leading to a pool of water below a zip wire.

She sighed as she sprinted forward, her feet leaving the ground as she grabbed the bars above. Near the end of the monkey bars, she dropped down and slid down the block before flipping forward and grabbing hold of the pole. She swung several times, timing her jump and flipped off the bar, gripping the rope. She pushed her feet outwards, swinging on the rope. She suddenly removed her gun as a target appeared to her right; she also had new targets installed. She holstered her gun, her swinging now powerful and she swung her feet above her head, tying her ankles around the rope. She let her arms go and she flopped down, now only hanging by her feet. She reached for her guns, firing at targets behind her. Placing her guns in their holsters, she grabbed hold of the rope, now swinging in her original position. She jumped off it, and grunted as she hit the blocks.

She looked left and right, expecting what was coming. She had run threw the new course just as many times as the old one. Taking a deep breath, she sprinted forward as darts shot out of the walls that were made of the same materials as the blocks, joint onto the blocks themselves. A target popped out to her left, and she quickly shot it before performing a round off over a group of rubble blocking her path. It wasn't real rubble; just bits of plastic squashed together for the effect. She continued to back-walkover quickly before finally performing a back flip, turning while in the air.

She ran down the blocks again, now out of the enclosed area. She was now out to the rest of the non-renovated part of the assault course. The zip wire was just head of her and she wrapped her hands around it, lifting her feet off the ground and swaying slightly as she travelled down on the handle.

Just before it reached the end, she let go, bending her knees as she landed and got back up, this time into a ducked position. She crawled threw the low passageway, where her pistols were usually kept when she was attempting the course. Because she already had them, she just passed threw the spot, getting to her feet again, un-holstering her pistols. She jogged along the grass before stopping and shooting at the targets that came up behind blocks. She fired several times at all the wooden planks before sprinting to the finish line, happy that she had done her job. As she rolled over the line, she remembered the other new target she had installed. She had decided that she should add a twist to the course, so she made Zip put a target in after she had finished the course, just to give her an extra practice.

She turned on her heel, shooting at the target that was now half hanging off the wall. Lara continued to fire at it, even when it showed she had got the better of it. The bullets kept impaling themselves into the wood as Lara felt her anger rise and soon, she was just pulling the trigger for nothing to come out. She fell to her knees and tears flowed from her eyes as her mood matched the weather – dull. She threw her guns to the side and pulled herself up, wiping her tears away and trying to calm herself down, shivering. Even she was surprised at her sudden show of emotion. But so many things had happened in the past few months, it was hard to keep them bottled up for so long. She picked her guns up and walked back towards the house, feeling some comfort as the rain began to pour down heavier.

When she entered, Zip was in his usual spot; the Tech room, Alistair was still hunched over the book she had last seen him with and Winston was just exiting from the kitchen, carrying his signature tray of tea. "Oh, Lara. You're soaking! Let me get you a blanket."

Lara smiled at Winston's concern. She may not need it, but it was nice of him to care for her, "I'm fine, Winston, thank-you." she sat down on the settee opposite Alistair, relaxing at the soft material of the couch. "Would you like a cup of tea then?" he motioned towards the tray in his hands.

"Yes, please." she reached out, grabbing the nearest cup and sat back down, taking a newspaper that had been left on the coffee table with her. She briefly scanned threw the front page, before one article caught her eye, _Young girl flees orphanage after suspecting herself of harming other children._ She sighed, just another teenager in doubt of their lives, thinking that running away would make it all better. She relaxed back into the chair, resting after a hard-ish days work.

* * *

Lara awoke when she heard someone tutting. Her head snapped up, immediately regretting the position she had been sleeping in as it had a disadvantage on her neck. Looking around, she realised she had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room, and looked to see Zip sitting on the opposite armchair with the paper in his hands. "Wh...what?" she asked, yawning.

"Ungrateful teenager. Runs away because her room mate is found with bruises and burns on her arms. The girl who ran away claimed to be experiencing strange glowing energy flying about her in her own subconscious. Apparently she has 'powers' that only come about when she's angry. If you ask me, she's just an attention seeker. They'll find her eventually and the guilt will make her admit that it was all a lie. It's a lot of bull." he threw the paper on the table, getting up and taking an empty cup of coffee to the kitchen.

"Well, thankfully nobody asked you." she said to an empty room. All the information seemed to be a bit suspicious to her. She wouldn't say that it wasn't possible for the girl to have these 'powers'; she had seen it happen before. But it did seem like an act to her. Her room mate could just be a part of it; self-harm or use make-up on herself and make it out that the other girl had assaulted her, giving her a reason to flee the orphanage.

Lara looked up at the clock. "Half eight?!" How long had she been asleep? She got up and walked into the kitchen with her own cup of tea. She looked outside the window as she entered and noticed that the weather hadn't changed. If anything – it had gotten worse. Zip was sitting over a piece of paper, scribbling down what looked like to Lara, calculations for re-installing his computer. He had mentioned it before and had been rather excited about it. Anything to do with computers, Zip would either know about it, or be doing it. Alistair and Winston were nowhere to be seen. She sat down beside him, pouring a fresh cup of tea and sighing. "I'm not so sure it is."

* * *

**AN: Right, it's moving slowly, I know, but remember it's only the second chapter and their was a bit of important information in that chapter that you should note down in your memory.**

**I'll see you on Saturday for a chapter that made me feel like my head was going to explode. Luckily, it didn't. **


	3. Butterfly

Butterfly

**AN: The plot will pick up in this chapter, not a lot, but it gives you an idea of what's going to happen... Oh, and I'm sorry if this Lara seems a little bit depressed. I noticed that the other day when I was checking over my chapters. But things will pick up for her, just you wait and see...**

**And, I almost forgot my manners, thanks to TrJunePearl and ExtremeRainbowRaiderPrincess for the review (s)!**

* * *

_Left, right, together,_ Lara thought to herself as she swam the lengths of the pool. She was practising a drill of a more tiring, yet more relaxing stroke, that most people would hate. But for Lara, the more she felt the Butterfly stroke test the muscles in her arms, the more relaxed she felt. Her legs flopped in the water, like a mermaids tail movement, making her move faster with each stroke she pulled. She came to the edge of the pool and panted for breath as her arms stung. She had began her 'warm-up' over an hour ago. And choosing the stroke that she did, it wasn't exactly the best for a warm-up. If anything it would drain her energy for the real thing.

Still holding onto the edge, she began to kick her legs out slowly behind her, pulling her body up so she was floating on the surface of the pool. She let go of the edge and turned onto her back, spreading her arms and legs out in a star shape. She looked up at the ceiling, taking in the pattern and designs of the roof. The weather had luckily changed around; in a change from a week of rain, wind and more rain, it had turned into streaming sun and heat waves. But, then again, that was the British summer for you. The weather was lovely this morning; the sun beaming down on everyone and the heat warming the skins of the people down below.

Lara closed her eyes and sighed as she just floated there, waiting for the day to bring along what it did. Her mood had picked up after the last storm had finished. Alistair and Zip were desperate to find out what was troubling her so much, but it would've been too hard to explain to them. They didn't know how much a threat Karel was. The only person besides Lara that knew what he was capable of wasn't around any more. And it would hurt her too much if she tried to contact him. Whenever she mentioned Karel's name, everyone else thought 'oh, well, she took care of him. Just like what Lara always does.' But they didn't know how it felt. The feeling that she had tried her best to stop someone, presumably killing them, just for them to pop up not dead and haunt you. The feeling that no matter how much you tried to get rid of something, it kept on coming back to you like a boomerang. The feeling of being useless. And that was a feeling that Lara didn't like one bit.

She opened her eyes and rolled over onto her front before swimming to the edge of the pool. She pulled herself up and sat down on the concrete floor, wading her feet in the water. She looked up, taking in the designs and patterns of her pool room. She had never really taken in the designs of her furniture; just looked at them when she was going somewhere. She scanned down the Greek statues that she would usually use to swing from the attached pole and then down to the fish blocks that she would pull out in order to get up onto the balcony's. They had always seemed like a necessity, more than just a piece of furniture to Lara. All the blocks and levers that led to lots of undiscovered places in the house is what made it Croft Manor. It couldn't be just like any other house. It needed to have its secrets to match its owner. She turned her head and faced straight forward. She stared there for a moment. Just thinking.

_As she looked out at the grounds of Croft Manor, she could have sworn she saw a figure standing there, just before the front gates. She suddenly felt alarmed as she remembered that she was the only one awake in the house; everyone else had retired for bed at least an hour ago that evening. She automatically reached for the Glock 22 in her thigh holster. She had learned to never go anywhere without her trusty pistols. Her grip tightened on the handle as the figure seemed to be staring right back at her. A flash of lightning came, so bright, Lara was forced to squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them, she found the figure nowhere to be seen and felt the adrenaline she had not felt in such a long time rise in her blood. _

The events of the previous night played over and over again in her mind; trying to make sense of whether she was seeing things or if someone was really there. Her daydream continued as she stared forward, at the water in front of her. Everything seemed to be blocked out at that moment. "Lara," she saw Zip's reflection in the pool and heard his voice, but didn't act on it.

"Lara?" Zip asked again. She still didn't reply. He bent down and placed a hand on her shoulder, her wet skin making the palm of his hand become wet, also.

"Lara?" his voice became more alarmed and Lara turned her head to look at him. "Sorry, what is it?" she asked.

"Forgot to give you this the other day." he handed her a brown envelope and she looked at it in her hands. "Whatever it is, it can't be good. You know what they say about brown envelopes." he shook his head.

Lara chuckled lightly at Zip's attempted joke. But he was right, the last time she had gotten a brown envelope was when she was being told her great aunt had died. But that was at least a decade ago. Things might have changed since then. She turned it over, looking at the address it had came from._ Berwick?_ She thought. She didn't know anybody about that area. "Any idea who it's from?" Zip asked as Lara stood up.

"Not the slightest." she smiled before exiting the pool room and heading upstairs to get some clothes on to replace her swimming suit she had been wearing.

* * *

Lara emerged from her bed area and made her way over to the coffee table. On it was the newspaper from the night before and the letter Zip had given her. She sat down and picked the envelope up, tearing at the paper before unfolding a leaf of paper that was enclosed within it. Her eyes scanned down the page, looking for any alarming words like **death**. Nothing threatening seemed to be written down, so she made a start at reading the whole letter:

_Dear Miss Croft,_

_Let me introduce myself. I am Mason DeComble and in need of your assistance, _At lest he gets to the point, Lara thought as she continued to read, _I understand you are a freelance archaeologist, as am I and I would find it very helpful if you would join me on an excavation. If you choose to accompany me, we shall be travelling to Bamburgh castle, in the well known town of Berwick, in search of a specific artefact. I understand that you are good with your guns and I would be lying if I said they wouldn't be useful on our adventure, _Adventure? He had said excavation the first time, _they will also come in handy for when I begin looking for someone. Or something - rather.  
_

_I hope you can contact me and also that the enclosed piece of paper may answer some of your questions. _

_Regards, _

_Mason DeComble._

What exactly was this letter? Was this man asking for her to help on a site, or to become a mercenary? And what did he mean about her guns? Bamburugh Castle was a public landmark, anyone could come along and see her shooting something. And it wasn't as if she would have to use them; all that castle had was a bunch of old furniture and pictures from the 18th century. Nothing interesting. She placed the letter down on the table and reached for the envelope again, pulling out a small A5 piece of paper that showed a picture. Her jaw almost dropped when she recognised the glyph on the paper. "Lux Veritatis?" she asked aloud as questions flooded her mind. She had thought that Kurtis was the last one. And why would he possibly need her? Had Kurtis spoken to him? If he knew who he was, why hadn't Kurtis mentioned him before? Did this DeComble character even contact him? She threw the picture on the table, sighing deeply before leaning back in her chair. She needed a break.

She picked the newspaper back up, wanting to read the article from the night before properly. _Young girl flees orphanage after suspecting herself of harming other children. For full story, turn to page 11._ Lara flicked threw the pages until she saw the number eleven in the bottom right hand side of the page:

_A fifteen year old girl ran away from her orphanage home in Berwick-Upon-Tweed in the early hours of the morning after suspecting herself of harming her room mate in her subconscious. Morgan Heissturm, originally from Utah, America, but moved to Glasgow, Scotland from the age of five onwards, was put into care at the age of eleven after her father died of internal injuries, her mother being deceased shortly after her fifth birthday. The teenager had already claimed to have 'powers' that she could control when she was in a fit of rage. Although no one had listened to her, people are beginning to wonder whether this girl should be taken as a threat or not._

Lara put it back down. She still thought that it was possible for the child to have powers, but they couldn't be that severe if she had learned to control them without any help. On the plus side; Lara did like the name Morgan.

She picked the letter up again before walking out of the room, heading for the library. When she entered, she walked over to the bookcase and, reaching it, began to read the letter again. There was no evidence that the person she hoped had recommended her to Mason DeComble, was the person that did. But she couldn't get her hopes up. Not for them to just come crashing down again.

She looked up at the bookcase, _Bamburgh_. She tapped her fingers along the spine of each book she past, until finally pulling one out. She flicked threw the pages, reading various information on the history of Bamburgh castle.

_Bamburgh Castle is one of the famous landmarks of the city of Berwick. It is mostly known for it's history, from the Anglo-Saxon capture to the destruction of the castle from the Vikings and the reconstruction of it in later years._

She scanned threw the rest of the page, with still nothing to do with the Lux Veritatis. The rest of the book showed the same. She sighed, placing the book back in the slot it had been in. The only way for her to find out what was so important about the castle was to do the simple thing; ask. But she didn't know anything about Mason DeComble, but somehow, he seemed to know an awful lot about her. The source of where it had come from was what worried her. Her only choice was to contact him. She walked back up to the desk, turning the envelope over so that she could see the telephone number and address of the sender.

Still holding onto the paper, she reached over and grabbed the telephone and typed in the numbers that were listed. After a few beeps, she heard a voice at the other end:

"_Hello?" _a man with a thick Jordy accent asked.

"Hello, this is Lady Croft, is Mr DeComble there?" she asked.

"_One minuet please, Lady Croft. Sir has been expecting your call._"

_Oh has he now, _she thought. The man on the other end, presumably the man's butler, had covered the speaker, but Lara could still hear his shouts for the head of the house. She waited patiently for 'sir' to come to the phone.

"_Ms. Croft?" _this time the man had a Scottish accent, obviously not from Berwick.

"Yes. I'm calling about the letter you sent me."

"_Ah, I was hoping you would call. Have you decided to take up my offer?"_

"That's exactly why I'm phoning. I don't understand your offer. First of all you said excavation, the next adventure, then you mentioned guns and looking for someone..."

"_I am looking for someone, but I would prefer that we discuss it in person. And as for the guns, you can never be too careful. You of all people should know that."_

"And the adventure/excavation?"

"_Well, a recent dig found an artefact under the castle grounds that had no relevance to any of the royals that lived in the castle. Except for one. They displayed it in the museum, and I believe it will be more of use to us than them."_

"Robbing? You're planning on robbing Bamburgh Castle?"

"_As I said, this artefact is of more use to us than it is them."_

"And what about the picture of the glyphs? What has this got to do with the Lux Veritatis?"

"_I believe the artefact is to do with it."_

"Are you Lux?"

"_It didn't go unnoticed did it? Now, about that offer..."_

"I'll think about it. Thank-you for the explanation. I'll hear from you soon." and she hung up, not giving the man a chance to reply.

She exited the room, walking down the stairs and into the Tech room, where Zip was sitting at one of his many computers. "Zip, could you please find all the information you can on a Mr Mason DeComble?"

"Will do." he began to type, getting straight to business.

"Who's he?" Alistair asked as he entered the room.

"A rather determined man. He contacted me recently, and I don't know what to make of him." she leaned back against the desk, staring straight forward.

"Determined?" Alistair asked.

"He seems to want me to help him on something. Apparently something to do with the Lux Veritatis and Bamburgh. He plans on taking an artefact from the castle."

"He plans on robbing Bamburgh Castle?! Why? The artefacts in there are almost exquisite. All the precise detail in every one of them."

"Yes, Alistair I know."

"Here we go." Zip turned the monitor of the computer to face the two archaeologists. "Mason DeComble. Mother's Scottish, father's French. Lived in Scotland all his life until he moved to France before moving to Berwick a year later. Went to St Andrews University and became a successful business man. Changed his interest to archaeology. That's it really."

"Explains the accent, thank-you Zip."

"What exactly are you planning on doing?"

"I'm going to visit him in Berwick. I want to hear of what he wants me for. If it's good enough, I'll join him."

"Did he mention anything to you that we don't know from here?"

"He said he was Lux. Not in so many words, but all the same."

"What's 'Lux'?"

Alistair cut in before Lara could answer, "Lux Veritatis."

"What's that with you?" Zip asked Lara.

"I had an old friend who was Lux. Haven't seen him in a while. I've been involved in a few activities with the Lux Veritatis."

"Who's this 'old friend'?"

"Kurtis Trent. I think I've mentioned him before."

"We've heard you say his name in your sleep more than when you're concious." Zip muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. You want me to book anything?"

"Just a train ride. It's not that far. I've got his address, and I'll need a few suitcases packed."

"I'm on it." Zip said. "When are you leaving?"

"Give me three days. I need to find out more about the artefact." she turned to face Alistair, "Could you look up all the recent excavations near or at Bamburgh Castle?"

"I'll try my best, Lara." he nodded before heading upstairs to the library to begin his research.

Lara turned and exited the Tech room, walking to the gym, hoping to take her mind off the current situation.

* * *

She was about to jump off the pole she had been balancing on when she heard Alistair shouting her name. It made her startle and Lara fell off the pole, only managing to grab it at the last minuet. She looked down at Alistair as she hung there, waiting for him to explain why he had interrupted her.

Alistair squinted his eyes as he looked up at Lara. She was at the top of the gym, just hanging on a pole, looking at him, like it was a natural thing to be hanging by a pole two-storeys high. "I've found some rather useful information. I think what your friend is looking for is the Bamburgh Shield. It was found in a recent dig and is said to be related to the Bamburgh Sword that Bryan Hope Taylor found in 1960. They were always kept together until William The Second tried to get the castle back from the Normans. One was buried with him, the other with his companion, Robert de Mowbray. They only found Mowbray's corpse with the sword, only now finding the shield but still not William's body. Some legends say that they were weapons that could be used to defeat pure evil, even Satan himself, being indestructible. Made of pure ferilium, something that doesn't usually come around easily."

"Just like the Chirugai." Lara mused. There were many things in that sentence that could relate the artefact to the Lux Veritatis. First of all, the Shield and Sword were made of the same iron as the Chirugai, then, it could be presumably used against evil, such as Demons and dark forces that it came across.

"What?"

"A Lux weapon. I've seen it being used many times." She pulled herself back up onto the pole, sitting on it.

"Well, if it's made from that substance, remind me to not get on the wrong side of one of them." he chuckled.

"Of it. There's only one left." she corrected.

"Oh, sorry. Remind me not to get on the wrong side of it."

"I'm sure you won't Alistair."she dropped to the ground, bending her knees as she landed.

She walked out of the gym, running a hand up the banister as she walked up the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"I've got some packing to do, remember?"

* * *

**AN: Ah, the lovely butterfly stroke. A very very horrible stroke. Especially if you're doing it in a swimming race. **

**OK, so, you don't know how much research I had to do for this chapter, honestly, it took ages. There's all this Bamburgh this and Bamburgh that and the Vikings and Normans and etc.**

**So, where are we going in the next chapter? Berwick-Upon-Tweed. The home of my OC Mason DeComble. And, I've got a little treat for you in the next chapter. Kurtis is back! But, only for like two seconds and then the chapter ends. **

**I'll see you on Tuesday for the return of Kurtis!**


	4. Berwick

Berwick

**AN: So, who's ready for a two second Kurtis? I am. And who's ready for Mr Mason DeComble and his Jordy butler to make an appearance? **

**Disclaimer: Right, I just spent over £50 on a JOINT cost birthday present for my friend, leaving me with 52p. I somehow think that that's not enough to buy or own Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, Zip, Alistair Fletcher or Kurtis Trent (yep, teenage hottie alert!)**

* * *

Lara trugged down the stairs, carrying a duffel bag in one hand with her backpack and in the other a suitcase. She dropped the suitcase to the ground and it flopped open, showing only one pair of jeans, a pair of shorts and two tank-tops. "Is that all your taking, Lara?" Alistair asked, standing in front of her. As a reply, Lara dumped her duffel bag and backpack into his hands, walking back up to the top of the stairs, revealing a second case. She walked back down the stairs, unzipping the case and spilling the contents out onto the floor with a sly smile. Looking down, Alistair could see endless amounts of firearm. Pistols, uzi's, grenades, rifles and shotguns. "You always did like your guns."

"They take up half of my luggage." she smiled before kneeling down to place the guns into the case. She emptied the cartridges and took her guns a part, placing them on top of her clothes in the suitcase. She stood back up. The only thing left to do was to find out where she was actually going. As if reading her mind, Zip appeared at the doorway to the kitchen, holding an earpiece and mic. "Wallace cottage, Berwick. The train will practically drop you off at it's doorstep." he smiled, handing her the equipment. "Thank-you."

"Please tell me about all the artefact's there, Lara. I've never been but apparently they are supposed to really be something."

"I'll try my best Alistair. But that's if I'm not forced to kill this guy for the good of mankind." she joked. She began walking towards the door, grabbing her car keys on the table before saying her goodbyes and leaving the house, completely oblivious of what she was getting herself into.

* * *

Lara stood at the train station, waiting for her train to Berwick to arrive at the station. The weather was back to it's old ways; rain. The only thing saving Lara from being drenched from head to foot was the paper that she was holding over her head, the platform not having any roofing. She heard the _clunking _of the bottom of the train connect with the tracks and looked up to see it pulling up for her to board.

Looking around, she saw she was the only person boarding at this stop. Which, actually didn't surprise her. It was half past five in the morning. She hadn't been able to get to sleep the night before. Knowing that she would be forced back into the life of assisting a Lux Veritatis brought so many memories back; good and bad. Good about seeing Kurtis again, being allowed to tell him how she truly felt. Bad being the pain it brought with it.

The doors opened and she put the newspaper in her backpack, getting onto the train. It was mostly empty, just a few people here and there, presumably on their way to work. She came to a seat, put her suitcase in the slot above it and then sat down, sighing and relaxing back into the chair. She turned and faced forward as she heard mumbling from in front of her and turned to see a young girl muttering under her breath. As she passed her, the girl smiled weakly at Lara. Lara would've normally taken this as a sign of aggression, but seeing as she was a young teenage girl up in the early hours of the morning, she couldn't blame her for moaning. _Wait a second, _Lara turned around as the girl passed her, but by the time she had twisted to answer her questions, the girl was gone. Lara turned back around. She could've sworn she recognised that girl from somewhere, but she couldn't put a finger on it. She turned back to look outside of the window.

"Ma'am?" Lara heard a voice ask.

"Excuse me, Miss?"

Lara turned around to look at the owner of the voice. "What?" she asked irritated.

"May I have your ticket please?"

Lara dug deep in the pocket of her denim jacket, and pulled a small rectangle piece of paper out, handing it to the woman. She punched a hole in it and then handed it back to her. "Thank-you."

Lara watched as the woman passed to the next rider, her eyes barley being able to stay open, she was that tired. She needed to get to Berwick quick if she was going to stay awake at all. But what she wanted to do was to crawl into her warm bed and fall asleep instantly. "Excuse me?" she saw a man sit down opposite her.

"Yes?" she sat up properly, not wanting to look too much of a mess in front of someone.

"If you don't mind me asking, are you Lady Lara Croft?"

"Why?" she asked warily.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just a big fan of yours."

"That's nice to know." she looked out of the window before turning back to face him, "I take it I'm going to have to answer your questions in order for you to stop harassing me."

"Well, I was wondering what you would make of an artefact I've heard about recently."

"Carry on."

"The Bamburgh Shield?" Lara shifted in her seat, "What do you make of it?"

"Nothing interesting, just a shield to me." she lied.

"Oh. Is it true that it's located in Bamburgh castle?"

"I'm not sure. Sorry I couldn't help."

"Oh, no. Don't worry. You were more help than you would imagine." his voice seemed to become lower as he stood up and walked down the carriage, another man joining behind him. Lara watched them walk away, curious of how this man might have known she knew something about the Shield. "She's lying. I want answers." he said to the other man as he pulled the door open and exited into the carriage he came from.

Lara rested her head against the head rest of the seat. Maybe she could have a little sleep.

* * *

"Miss? Miss." Lara felt herself being shook awake and opened her eyes slowly to see the woman who had taken her ticket looming over her.

Lara yawned, "Yes?"

"This is the stop for Berwick." she nodded outside the window which showed a sign saying that she was only about ten minuets from her destination.

"Thank-you." she stood up and collected her luggage, getting off the train just before it left the platform. She looked around her, noticing she wasn't that far away from a holiday park and right next to a high street. She scanned over the shops, searching for a small cafe she could get a cup of coffee or a small sandwich to fuel her energy. She had skipped breakfast that morning, meaning she had went almost twelve hours without anything to eat or drink. There wasn't anything apart from numerous fish and chip shops, along with a Chinese takeaway and a McDonald's. It looked like she would have to wait.

Waiting at the side of the road, she called for a taxi that was just passing by. She got in after putting her case in the boot of the car. "Wallace cottage please." At her request, the driver began to head in the direction of the house.

"You're the second one today, Miss. Just dropped one man off at that place. Family reunion?"

"Nope."

"Party?"

"Nope."

"What is it then?"

"Nope." she replied, apparently not listening.

"If you say so."

"Yep." she had been listening the entire time. She just didn't want to get into a conversation with the taxi driver.

* * *

The rain pattered down on the ground as Lara got out of the cab, pulling a ten pound note out of her pocket and handing it to the man after collecting her luggage from the boot of the car. In front of her was a mansion. Compared to Croft Manor, this place looked like a palace. The fountains in the front garden with rose bushes and flower lots made it look even more grand. She walked up to the front gates, which opened easily as she pushed, obviously not being locked.

She walked along the garden path, staring down at the puddles of water on the gravel and the mud that had collected on her boots. She approached the large oak doors and knocked twice, waiting for a reply. _Cottage, my ass, _she thought as the door opened slightly, revealing an elderly man in a smart suit. "Yes?" he asked with the same Jordy accent as the man on the phone.

"It's Lara Croft. I believe Mr DeComble is expecting me." she hugged her arms as the rain soaked her jacket.

"Oh, do come in, Miss Croft." he opened the door fully, leading Lara into the house after closing the door behind her.

Lara looked around as she walked threw the entrance hall, amazed by what she was seeing. On either side of the hall were two staircases, leading to another hall on the second level. Pictures hung on the walls, of various artists, mostly what Lara assumed were remakes of the real things. Bookcases surrounded most of the space on the walls, filled with volumes of old, dusty books. In the centre of the hall, there was a small seating area with little more than a couch and a coffee table.

A man entered from a second room, greeting the butler before turning to Lara. "Miss Croft. I must say it's a pleasure to meet you." he held his hand out and Lara took it, shaking it thoroughly. The man had dark brown hair and velvet green eyes. He was well built and smartly dressed. Even for someone who was dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. If she hadn't had other things on her mind, Lara would have suggested him of being attractive. "Nice to meet you too."

"I'm glad." he smiled before gesturing to the couch. "Shall we get down to business?"

"That's why I'm here." she sighed as she sat down opposite him.

"Would you care for a cup of tea?"

"I could die for one, thank-you." she said as he took a hold of one cup, pouring brown liquid into it and handing it to her.

"I bet you're wondering why you're here." he sank back into his own seat.

"The thought had crossed my mind." she said after taking a sip of her tea. The hot liquid burned her throat and she took some comfort in the taste of the tea.

"I need your assistance on a trip to Bamburgh Castle. I am searching for an artefact my ancestors were unlucky enough to have taken away from them."

"I would be happy to help, but that's still not enough information for me."

"I've heard of your expertise and think you would be perfect for the job. It's not your average tourism or excavation, this is important. More important than many people could imagine."

"Is that what we need guns for?" she guessed.

"The people we are fighting against, Miss Croft, are not people to be messed with. As I'm sure you know. And I don't think that will protect you much." he nodded towards the small pistol she had hidden on the inside of her jacket.

"As I'm sure you know, I know better than to go anywhere with less than one gun." she lifted her suitcase up, shaking it, the metal of the guns clanking together, making it obvious she had brought more than one gun. "You mentioned something else. About the Lux Veritatis?"

"Yes. I am Lux, if that was what you were asking." Lara was slightly surprised at how open he was at being a physic, even to a stranger. "This task – getting the sword and shield- is more of a duty to me. Something that has been placed on my shoulders from my fathers death. It is more important to me than raiding is to you."

"Raiding?"

"Well, some people say archaeologist, others say raider. Especially one eager source..."

"If you ask me, I'm the female version of Indiana Jones." she chuckled. "But what I meant is, what has this got to do with the Lux Veritatis? I thought they were all deceased, apart from one survivor of the war. I don't understand how this could be so important..."

"Believe me, Miss Croft. It is very important. You have heard of the Cabal, yes? They're still around. And after the same as me, except not for the same reason."

"The Cabal's still about? Does that mean? About," she stuttered.

"Karel. I'm afraid so. He's alive and well. And wanting the sword and shield. I had to learn the hard way." he turned his arm over, revealing a large burn on the underside of his arm, stopping just after his elbow. "And he won't stop until he gets what he wants. You should be careful, Lady Croft."

"And what are you planning on doing with the artefact's? You can't keep them away from Karel. He's obviously proved he's not one to be messed with. And please, call me Lara."

"OK, Lara. I'm glad to have your support. Are you OK? You seem to have a lot on your mind."

"I've been through a lot." She hated him for asking the question. As soon as he asked it, she immediately thought of Kurtis. "How do you know so much about me? I'd never heard of you before and you seem to know everything about me."

"Well, as you may know, I'm not the only Lux Veritatis. There will be another two joining us on our journey."

"Other two?" she asked. But her answer seemed to be answered by a voice from behind them.

"Lara?" she heard a man with an American accent ask. The voice brought butterfly's to her stomach. Made her feel warm inside, yet somewhat angry. She stood up and turned around to face the owner of the voice to see the face of the man that she had – no, _still_, loved.

"Kurtis." Lara breathed.

* * *

**AN: There's your two seconds of Kurtis! I hope you enjoyed them. **

**I realise my chapters have been a little bit short for the first few updates, but that will change round from now on. These were the difficult chapters if you believe me. I know how I'm going to set the other ones out , but it was just thinking of how to write Lara just staying still. And that's quite hard, seen as she's always on the move. **

**So, is there going to be fluff at first sight? (see what I did there? No? Oh well) Tune in on Thursday to find out!**


	5. Morgan

Morgan

**AN: Hello all! How are you all doing? **

**Here's a little bit more than two seconds of spotlight for Kurtis.**

**

* * *

**"What are you doing here?" Kurtis asked.

"I could ask you the same question." _Brilliant, _Lara thought, _the first time I see him in four months and it's the start of an argument, _

"Doesn't have to be if you don't want it to be," Kurtis said, sitting down on the couch beside Mason.

"I forgot you could do that," Lara said while sitting back down, referring to his mind reading tricks.

"Miss Croft, this is Kurtis Trent. But I'm sure you already know that. He will be joining us." Mason said, giving an unwanted introduction.

"You said other two. The last time I checked, Kurtis was only one person." Lara said, not making eye contact with Kurtis. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? To be reunited with him. Yet, with him just a few feet away from her, she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. _For what? He was the one that left,_ she argued with herself.

"Yes, there is someone else."

"Brat's upstairs." Kurtis cut in, "I knew teenagers were bad, but that girl's got some mood on her."

"Teenager? You're dragging a child into this? You're making a child supposedly fight for the human race when she can barely understand what that means?" Lara asked.

"To be fair, she got herself into it," Mason handed Lara the paper she had read a few days ago at the manor. "Ran away. Has powers. Knew she was Lux, didn't say anything. I met her when she was a child and she knew where to go."

He was referring to the girl Lara had read about in the papers. She had learned the girl was only fifteen, how on earth was she supposed to fight to the death? Then it came back to her; the girl she had seen on the train was the girl in the picture.

Making an introduction for herself, the girl appeared at the top of the stairs, above the rest of the group, "Whens this other woman getting here? I'm bored out my skull,"

"Lara's here," Kurtis pointed out.

"Oh. Hello. I'm Morgan. I assume you're the world famous Lara Croft. I'm sure you already know about me, hearing about the young idiot of a girl that ran way and all."She sighed. Lara listened to the girl's strong accent. It was a lot more obvious than Mason's, probably because they were from different parts of the country.

"Nice to meet you." she smiled.

"You don't have to act formal in front of me. I'm just the average Glaswegian." she made her way down the stairs, sitting in an armchair, helping herself to a cup of tea. "Compared to Mr Fifer here, I'm a tramp."

"Don't start Morgan," Kurtis groaned.

"How did you know to come here?" Lara asked Morgan, ignoring the fed up Kurtis.

"Well, Mason's my older cousin. A rubbish one at that. He didn't even bother to come forward and foster me. And he left me to train myself. I almost killed a social worker the other day. But that's not why I left."

"Why did you leave then?"

"I've been having trouble lately. My best friend killed herself recently and it's been hard to keep my powers bottled up. I've been planning on leaving for a while, but when Mason sent me a letter asking for help, I took the opportunity"

"How did you get out then?"

"What is this, twenty questions? When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning." Mason said, "Give Lara her rest and we'll head up at the closing time. There will be less people there."

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you planning on doing with the artefact's?" Lara asked.

"We need to travel to a Nephilim Stronghold that we are yet to figure out where it is. Morgan, Kurtis and I will do most of the work. But we need you to help us find the artefact's and delay Karel for as long as you can."

"Do I get a say in this?"

"You said you would help us."

"I didn't say I was willing to stall a Nephilim! Do you have any idea what that could mean?"

"She's right," Kurtis cut in, "Karel will kill her instantly. There's no way she could hold him off."

"Oh, thanks for the support."

"I was just stating the obvious."

"Oh will you two stop! You're acting like a married couple!" Morgan said.

"I'll be upstairs," Kurtis sighed, getting up and heading upstairs.

"Oh, yeah! You run away!" Morgan shouted after him. She turned back to the rest of the group, sipping at her tea.

A few moments of silence past before Mason spoke,"Should I show you to your room?" he sigehd at Kurtis and Morgan's behaviour.

"As long as it's not next to hers, I'll be fine." she smiled.

"I'm not that bad." Morgan defended herself. Well, she had been told she was a little bit much at times, but what can she say?

"I beg to differ." Mason led Lara up the stairs, leaving Morgan sulking in her seat.

The hall to her room was just as grand as the rest of the house. Elegant pictures hung on the wall, china and gold ornaments being found here and there. How much money did this man actually have? It took being a Lady for Lara to have this much money, so he must have worked his ass off to earn what he had. Zip had mentioned him being a business man, though. Maybe that was the reason he was as rich as he was. "Here we are." Mason left Lara in front of a room. She opened the door and immediately dumped her bags down on the ground, walking over to the bed and throwing herself onto it, the mattress below her not expecting the amount of weight it had just been forced to support.

She looked up at the ceiling, so many feelings swarming throughout her being. She liked the feeling of going back to raiding, but hated the feeling of knowing what a threat the person they would be duelling was. When she thought back to the young girl downstairs, she couldn't help but laugh to herself. With her, Morgan had obviously brought a package load of hormones and an attitude to match. Mason seemed rather welcoming, something she hadn't seen someone act like to a stranger in a long time. And then there was seeing Kurtis again. They had barley been in the room a minuet together and the only words they spoke were words of anger. Shouldn't she feel happy? She had wanted to see him for who knows how long, and when she set her eyes upon his face, she couldn't help but feel somewhat angry at him. She didn't know why; maybe it was just a natural reaction for her to feel anger.

A knock came to her door and she sat up, "Come in," she sighed.

She looked up to the doorway as Kurtis entered the room. "Oh, hello."

"Hey. I'm sorry about earlier. It's just... I've been stuck thinking... a lot. About Karel. How is he still alive? I thought you said he was dead?" he sat down beside her on the bed.

"I thought I killed him. There was an explosion that sent a beam of light straight threw him. Then the whole place went up. I'm surprised he could survive a whole building coming down on him." she laughed. "But it makes me worry; if he survived that, then how on earth are we supposed to kill him?"

"I've been worrying a bit much as well. And it doesn't help that we have to put up with that thing downstairs." he ran a hand threw his already messy hair.

"How does she know how to control her powers?"

"Well, her dad died just a few years back, one of the last to survive the Lux war and her mum died after her fifth birthday. Her dad probably trained her before he died. Other than that, I don't know anything. Except to not make her angry."

"Why?" she smiled. She was starting to feel a little bit more comfortable around him, just focusing on a casual conversation.

"When she came here just before you, she was in a right mood. I told her to calm down which made her angrier. Almost turned my arm to ash." he rolled up his sleeve to reveal a burn on both sides of his arm. "Just a little damage. Nothing much, but that's because she said she was having a laugh. She seems to be quite strong for her age."

Lara laughed at the picture of Kurtis begging a fifteen year old girl to stop hurting him. She needed to ask a question that, whatever answer he gave, would probably hurt her inside. It's not that she wanted to ask the question, but she knew she would have to sooner or later. If he said 'fine', she would feel upset that he hadn't missed her. And if he said 'not well', she would feel that it was her causing him the pain. "How have you been?"

"Well, crap, really." _Oh, brilliant,_ Lara thought, _go and make me feel guilty, why don't you?_ "If I'm honest, I've missed you. What about you?"

"Erm, could be better. Bryce isn't around. He left for another job. But I've still got my 'geeks' so don't worry, nothings changed." Why couldn't she just be honest with him? He had said openly to her that he missed her. Why couldn't she just do the same? It wouldn't be lying. God knows she missed him. So much she had become temporarily depressed after Paris. It wasn't as if it was a difficult task; she only needed to open her mouth and say the words, it wasn't as if it wasn't possible. But she knew she would get hurt again if she opened up to him. She would tell him how she felt and he would leave like what he did four months ago.

"Really, Bryce's gone?"

"Yep. He left me for a better-" Lara and Kurtis stood straight up, snapping themselves out of their conversation and heading towards Lara's bedroom door. They had heard a banging at the front door and then shouting. "Stay here," Lara said to Kurtis as she stealthed to the end of the corridor, ducking as she reached the banister. She peered down as mercenaries flooded the house. They stood in a semi-circle as a figure walked into the house, giving them instructions before they headed in the directions they were given.

Lara stood and sprinted back to her room and Kurtis. She entered the room and quietly but quickly shut the door behind her, going straight for her suitcase and throwing it on top of the bed. "Mercenaries, lots."

"Do you think it's...?" he left the question hanging.

"I think so." she unzipped her case, taking out her dual pistols and inserting clips after putting them back together.

"Oh, brilliant." he said sarcastically, removing his gun from his shoulder holster.

"Take these." Lara handed him some sticky grenades and he put them in his small pack connected to his belt.

"You planning on blowing up his house?" he smiled. They made their way over to the door, opening it slightly as Lara looked down each way to the corridor before exiting with her guns in her hands. _Wait, what about Mason and Morgan?_ Lara felt Kurtis enter mind.

_If they're as good as you say they are, then they'll be fine. Which one's Morgan's room? _She crept along the corridor. _You're right at it, _he nodded forwards, motioning to a room just in front of Lara.

Slowly, while Kurtis kept a look out, Lara opened Morgan's door to see her lying on her bed, reading a magazine. She looked up at Lara, "Don't you knock?" her eyes traced down to Lara's hand where her guns were, "Why have you got those?"

"Safety. Come on." she waved her over. Morgan got up and walked over to Lara, "Why? I swear if this is just to give me an earful, you're going to get the same as Kurtis."

"Shh. If you think these are bad, how would you like the big men downstairs to shoot you with bigger ones?" she whispered as they joined Kurtis out in the hall.

"I know what mercenaries are, I'm not stupid. What am I meant to do? I'll end up getting myself killed or run around like a headless chicken until they decide to shoot me. I don't have guns like you."

"Keep your voice down." Kurtis warned, "And just use your powers, you were boasting about them before, now how do you feel about actually using them?"

"I'm fine." she shoved Kurtis up against the wall using a mental surge of energy. "But are you?"

"You were the one that said we were acting like a married couple, now you're acting like brother and sister." Lara cut in.

"Sister to that thing! Yeah, right." she let Kurtis drop to the floor as Lara continued down the hall, following after her, Kurtis behind her.

"Yeah, well you certainly wouldn't win the 'sister of the year' award."

"Oh, for God's sake, will you two shut up!" Lara said, turning around to face them. "If you don't stop talking, you'll get us all killed." she turned back round, continuing down the hall.

She stopped at the banister, lightly leaning over to see if anyone was below. "I'll go down just now. I'll tell you when it's safe to come down." she hopped over the banister, grunting as she hit the ground.

The room was empty, probably meaning Karel's men were after something and they knew where to get it. She hugged the wall as she made her way threw the hall and into the dining room. She peered around the corner and pulled her head back as bullets were fired. She jumped round, holding her guns in the air, but sighed with relief when she saw Mason standing there. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Getting rid of these bastards. What about you? You almost had my head off," she checked back round the corner. Something wasn't right. It was too quiet.

"I need to get something. You, Kurtis and Morgan meet me outside in about five minuets. I won't be long." she watched as he ran off in the opposite direction, exiting the room before she had the chance to object. She turned around and headed into the other room. Looking around, she could see it was like a smaller lounge, with just a seating set, coffee table, bookcase and desk. She stepped into it and felt a hand covering her mouth.

She screamed against the hand, but her cries weren't heard, the force of the hand being too strong. She dropped her guns to the ground and struggled against the man's grip, trying to get the hand off of her mouth. She felt the point of a knife appearing at her back and she became more alarmed. Desperately trying to get away, she bit the hand and the grip slackened, giving her an opportunity to get away. She ducked under the man's arm and grabbed her guns, quickly shooting her attacker in the head. _That's stealth out the window, _she thought as she heard more footsteps come to her position.

She stepped out of the doorway and three guards blocked her exit. Looking back, she was trapped by a wall. All the mercenaries trained their guns on her head, meaning if she tried something, there was a big chance she would get shot. Looking behind them, she could see Kurtis aiming a gun at the centre mercenaries back. She trained her guns at the other two guards and both her and Kurtis simultaneously fired, the bullets piercing the flesh of the guards, two of them falling towards her, the other towards Kurtis. "Thanks." she said as she stepped over the guards, "Where's Morgan?"

"Having fun." he rolled his eyes. They exited into the larger hall where Morgan was standing, holding a guard up in the air, constantly hitting him with his own gun. She was laughing quietly to herself. "Morgan, stop it." Lara looked around, searching for any guards that were just waiting to pop out at them. Morgan turned around to look at them, "I'm just having-" she was thrown across the room in the middle of her sentence. Lara and Kurtis watched as Karel emerged from the adjoining room, standing in the middle of a line of mercenaries.

"Well, look what we have here. Lady Croft. I must say, it's a pleasure to meet you again." he smiled smugly.

"Shame I can't say the same to you," Lara said threw gritted teeth.

"We won't trouble you, don't worry. All we want is the girl and then we'll be off," he clicked his fingers and two guards went over to Morgan who was lying on the ground, barley conscious. They forced her up and she pushed them aside, "Don't you touch me with your pork chops,"

In reply, she was hit over the head, temporarily teaching her her lesson. "Thank-you kindly. We'll be off now." he waved his hand and all the guards lifted their guns to aim them at Lara and Kurtis. He left the room and Lara and Kurtis heard the safety of the guards rifle's being taken off.

Thinking quickly, Lara dove behind a piece of furniture, dragging Kurtis down with her. She felt the impact of the bullets hit the couch and stood up, firing a quick few shots before ducking back down to empty her clips. Both Lara and Kurtis stood up and began firing while making their way to the exit Karel had taken with Morgan. Lara left Kurtis to finish off the remaining mercenaries while she ran after the fleeing Karel. She stopped as she saw them standing in a small room, this time a study and was amazed to see Morgan fending for herself over someone as powerful as Karel. She had him on the ground, but seemed to be gripping her side, as if she had been hit there.

Lara entered the room and placed her hands on Morgan's shoulders, looking past her onto the ground where Karel lay. He began to stir and Lara immediately reached for her guns at her side. "Go get Kurtis and meet Mason outside. I'll be out soon," _I hope_ she silently added at the end.

Morgan looked up to Lara with tears in her eyes before turning and running after Kurtis. Karel stood up as Lara turned around to face him again. "You're a fool to challenge me, Lara."

"And?" she asked sarcastically.

He shoved her up against the wall mentally and Lara felt an invisible force close around her throat. She dropped her guns and scratched at her neck to release the grip of the mental hand, to no avail. She kicked out and knocked a vase over, it smashing at Karel's feet. He looked down, dropping Lara to the ground and he picked a piece of the vase up and held it close to his face. He looked up at Lara who was slowly edging her way to the window. He knelt down beside her and pulled her face close to his, "Now, what would happen if this was to slip from my hand?" he held the shard close to her face.

"What would happen if I was to do this?" she head-butted his head and it went straight for the shard, scraping at his skin as it impaled his cheek. Lara quickly got to her feet and made her way over to the window as Karel stood, nursing his wound. She looked around for something to break the window with; her guns being next to Karel and it being to risky to cut the glass herself. She picked up an ornament and smashed at the window, the glass being thrown outwards, some specs cutting at her face and hands. She stood back and cleared the broken glass from the window-sill, looking back to Karel who had just realised what she had done.

Without any further hesitation, she hopped out of the window, running for the front gates of the house. When she got there, she could see two bikes, Mason and Morgan on one and Kurtis on the other. She stopped, looking back at the house and then sprinted forward, jumping onto the bike behind Kurtis. "It's about time," he said as he revved the bike up.

Following Mason and Morgan, he drove out of the gates, heading into the empty streets of Berwick.

* * *

"Two rooms please." Lara sighed as she reached the reception at the hotel they would be staying at that night. "Make that two adjoining rooms." They would be staying there until the morning, then heading to Mason's other home not far from the hotel.

"Family holiday?" the lady at the reception asked with a smile. Lara looked over her shoulder to the rest of the group. They were sitting at the lounge of the hotel. Mason was sitting over a laptop, looking quiet and peaceful and on the other side, Kurtis and Morgan were bickering. Yet again. "Anything but," Lara laughed. "You think I could put up with this lot?"

"I understand." the lady smiled. "We've just got two rooms left. It's been quite busy recently." she handed Lara four room keys and she picked her backpack up and headed back to the group after saying thank-you to the receptionist.

Lara would be sharing a room with Morgan, Kurtis and Mason sharing the other. Whether it was a good idea to share a room with a moody teenager, or not, Lara would prefer it over sharing a room with Mason and if she had to share a room at Kurtis, she knew she would have to scream into a pillow to stop the temptation of falling for him again.

The group walked up the stairs, exiting into the room that would be Lara and Morgan's. Lara flopped down in the bed, chuckling lightly to herself. "Just like old times, eh?" Kurtis laughed, sitting down on the small wooden chair next to a makeshift desk.

"You used to do that all the time?! Have you lost all trace's of sanity?! I've had the odd fight but never with giant lumps of fat with guns." Morgan said.

"We kind of used to make it a substitute living." he laughed again.

"Oh, good to know. I'm stuck under the protection of two physco's and a Norman."

"You should be grateful Lara and Kurtis know what they're doing." Mason cut it, making his way to the door that led to Kurtis' and his room.

"Is it alright for me to go to sleep, or do I have to sleep with one eye open?" Morgan asked with a surprisingly serious face.

"You're safe from me." Kurtis held his hands up in mock surrender, "It's her you need to watch. She sleepwalks with her guns." he joked, getting up and walking over to the door, Lara kicking him on the way out, "I do not, don't listen to him." she got up and walked over to the bathroom door, closing the door behind her.

Morgan walked over to the mirror on the other side of the door that led into the hall, and lifted her top up slightly, revealing a growing burn. She placed a hand on it and closed her eyes, fighting the pain that soared throughout her being.

Lara opened the door to the bathroom and rushed over to Morgan after seeing a patch of light pink skin on her back, indicating a burn. She turned her around, "My God, Morgan. Is this what he did to you?" she said, looking into the girl's blue eyes. She slowly nodded her head and pulled her top down. Lara walked over to her bed, fishing in her back-pack for a bandage she could use to cover the wound.

She motioned for Morgan to sit on the bed. She did as instructed and lifted her top up as Lara leaned around her, wrapping the bandage lightly around the girls waist. She cringed slightly as the material connected with her skin, closing her eyes.

"That's it." Lara reassured and Morgan opened her eyes to see Lara kicking her boots off, throwing her jacket over the chair. "You should get some sleep, it's late." she walked around to the side of her bed, pulling the covers aside and switching the lamp light off, entering the bed. The soft pillow and warm sheets immediately greeted her, making Lara feel more comfortable than what she was.

"Night Lara." Morgan said, coming from the direction of the other bed.

"Goodnight Morgan."

* * *

Lara couldn't sleep. She stared up at the ceiling, only to be faced with plain white paint. It was too difficult to sleep. So many thoughts were swarming in her mind. She did that a lot lately; thinking.

She had been forced into the mess with Karel, barely being able to say the word 'yes' before he had tracked them down and attempted to take Morgan. Why was it that they needed her? There didn't seem to be anything important about her; she had exactly the same capability as Kurtis and Mason. Which, if Lara told the truth, impressed her a little bit. And now they were on the run. Again. Might she add. That was something else she did a lot. And they were now pressured into getting the sword and shield before Karel. AND they had find out where this Nephilim Stronghold was. She turned over onto her side so she was now facing Morgan.

She looked surprisingly peaceful, something Lara should take advantage of. Her hair was messed up in it's ponytail and was falling over her face. Her cheek was squashed against the pillow, making her lips look bigger and stick out. Lara laughed quietly as Morgan snored quietly, kicking out in her sleep.

She turned back to face the ceiling. And then there was the obvious reason why she couldn't get to sleep. How could she when Kurtis was so close to her? Sure, there was a wall between him, but that didn't stop the unwelcome feelings soaring threw her. Did he feel like this as well? She knew they would be working close together again, and each time she would see him, she knew it would kill her inside. Like it was now; just thinking about him.

She knew that in some point of their adventure, she would have to tell him how she really felt. Something she didn't want to do. And would he say he felt the same? Would he say he felt the same and then just leave for Lara's 'safety' again?

Lara couldn't sleep. But she needed to. They had a very big task ahead of them. And sleep was the only rest she would get.

* * *

**There you go. You got a whole chapter of Kurtis. Who likes Morgan? She seems a little bit...I don't know how to describe it... to me she seemed to be a little bit, erm, I don't know how to explain it. **

**See you on Monday!**


	6. Secrets

Secrets

**AN: Thanks to ExtremeRainbowRaiderPrincess and Dark Angel for the reviews. Keep them coming! Please?**

**To Dark Angel: have you read my mind? What you said is REALLY close to how it's actually going to happen!  
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"So you're telling me that you used to do that sort of stuff all the time?" Morgan asked as she joined Lara, Kurtis and Mason in Kurtis and Mason's hotel room.

"Used to. Yes." Lara nodded from her spot on the bed as Mason sat at the desk and Kurtis stood beside the window. They had been waiting there for Morgan to get ready, having waited for over half an hour. Morgan didn't come across as the type to be into her looks, which could have been the reason why she had taken so long – staring in front of the mirror, doing her hair endless times just because one hair was out of place. Although, she did seem the type that, once woken up, was likely to go back to sleep. Lara had shook her from her slumber at six in the morning, Morgan promising to get up only to fall back asleep as soon as Lara left the room.

"How are you not dead then?" she yawned, sitting down beside Lara.

"Because we know what we're doing. Unlike some who can think they can fool around and not suffer the consequence's." Kurtis answered for her. He shot daggers at Morgan.

"She didn't know what she was doing." Lara turned to face him.

"Exactly. You think we should let that thing loose in the wild with her abilities! She could commit genocide in five minuets!"

"That thing?! I do have a name you know."

"Yes. It." he looked out of the window, watching the sunrise. It was coming closer to winter; making the mornings darker and the nights become dark quicker.

"You're not helping, Kurtis." Lara sighed.

He turned around to face her again,"Helping what? There's nothing to help, Lara! Karel's back and you know that he means business. We have to make sure he doesn't get what he wants, whatever the hell that is. Me, Mason and Morgan – we have no choice but to do this. It's in out blood, literally. But you've been forced into this. You could've said no, but you had to act the hero again, didn't you?! We might not survive this. Morgan – she's still got the rest of her life to look forward to. She's just a child! And you. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

Lara gazed into his eyes. She had never seen him this angry before. Something was causing him to act like this, something Lara didn't want to take over him. "And what makes you think that you have a bigger chance of surviving? I'm the one with the expertise in this sort of stuff. I could get those artefact's with my eyes closed! As well you know. I've fought Karel once, I can do it again."

"You didn't do a very good job."

Lara stood up, facing him with the words that shot out of her mouth, fuelled by her anger, "You don't know, Kurtis! I'd like to see you fight him!" she challenged.

As a reply, he brushed past her and opened the door, exiting the room. Lara sat back down sighing, "Don't worry, Lara. It's a shock to him. It's a shock to all of us." Mason comforted her, having been silent for the whole argument.

"I still don't know who this Karel guy is." Morgan said.

"It's a man to watch out for." Lara said standing up and walking over to the window, in the spot Kurtis had previously been in. "What did he mean when he said he didn't have a choice but to fight?"

Mason sighed, getting up and walking over to a bag he had brought with him. "Karel is the last of the Cabal, the rest being killed on that day in Prague. It is our duty to stop him at all costs. It was our ancestors duty, and now it's ours. Even if that means dying in the fight, so be it." he finally found the object he was looking for and held it up for Lara to see it. She walked over to him and carefully plucked it from his hands, looking at it, admiring the beauty of the box she was holding, "Is this what you had to get from the house?" she asked him, now turning her attention back to Mason. He nodded, "The box of Heissturm. It was Kurtis' father's."

"Heissturm? Wait, was that Kurtis' former surname? I knew he had changed it, just didn't know what it used to be."

"I thought you would have known that."

"Well, we went to school together, if that's what you mean, but his name was Trent by then. Why would his father change it at such a young age?" she studied the box again.

"Probably for protection. Every Lux was a target. The Cabal would track us down by searching for our second name. That's the only reason I can think of." he shrugged, sitting back down, watching Lara with amusement as she gazed at the box as if it were a heavenly object.

"Why was it named after him? And why does Kurtis not know about it?"

"I'm not sure why it was named after Konstantin. Perhaps it was handed down throughout his bloodline. The reason Kurtis never received it was because his father thought he had left for good."

"So he gave it to the next best thing. He thought Kurtis wouldn't want anything to do with the Lux and Cabal so it was passed onto you. But Kurtis still got his Chirugai and the Periapt Shards..."

"Perhaps he wanted Kurtis to avenge him? I'm not sure."

"What's in the box then?" She handed it back to him.

"I don't know. It's impossible to open. No matter which angle you try to open it at, it still won't budge." he sighed.

"Maybe you're going about it the wrong way. Maybe we need Kurtis' help. It is his father's after all."

"Good luck. He's even more moody than me just now." Morgan said from her spot on the bed.

"I'll go talk to him." Lara said as she opened the door to the room, leaving Mason and Morgan alone.

* * *

Kurtis stared at his plate in front of him. Sausage, bacon and eggs. His first proper breakfast in a long time. He thanked the waitress beside him and lifted his knife and fork as she walked away. He cut at the sausage and chewed it as he looked up to see Lara enter the room. He sighed, leaning back in his chair, putting his knife and fork on his plate. Lara sat down beside him, looking up at him.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

"What? Letting some steam off?" he said after swallowing his food.

"No. Taking your anger out on the closet thing."

"I've already told you. Karel isn't one to be messed with. God knows what's going to happen to us."

"You have to trust yourself. And Morgan and Mason. And me. Anyway, we're at an advantage."

"How so?"

"Mason showed me a box. It was named after your father."

"My father?"

"Yes. I don't know what's in it, but it's impossible to open."

"Why do I not know about this?"

"We're not sure. But it would have had to be a good reason if he gave it to Mason."

"But I still got the Chirugai and the shards..."

"I don't know why you're asking me all this; I don't have the answers."

"Oh. How terrible of me to expect you to help." he pushed his plate towards her, "I'm not hungry." Lara looked down at the plate and then pushed it back to him, "Neither am I."

Kurtis sighed again, now looking past Lara and at Morgan who was yawning and entering the hotel restaurant. "Hey." he said dryly as the teenager sat down beside Lara.

"Hello." she replied.

They three sat in silence for a moment before Morgan broke the tension, "Mason said we should get to his second house at about 12pm. There's supposed to be quite a bit of traffic from the rain but other than that, it'll be a straight forward trip."

"Thanks." Lara replied, "Do you want this?" she offered Morgan the plate of food that both her and Kurtis had refused. To Lara, Morgan looked like she could do with a lot more sleep and a bit more dressing on the wound that was inflicted by Karel the night before. If she looked down at the young girl's top, she could see that it clung to her waist, indicating she had taken the bandages off and her clothing had caught to her burn. Under her eyes were slightly visible bags, meaning she either had trouble sleeping or was just exhausted altogether.

"I'm OK, thanks." she smiled.

"Are you OK, Morgan?" Kurtis asked her.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"You seem a bit...troubled." _Nothing like her,_ he added. He knew Morgan a lot more than he would ever let on. Growing up, she had been like a sister to him. Although she was seventeen years his junior, before he got that rebellious streak in him, he used to look after her night and day; playing with her, talking to her and helping her out when she needed support. A few years after he left, her mother died and she was put into care up in Scotland, being forced to cross the globe in order to be safe from the sins that were following her father; she was only five. She moved back to America with her father until the age of eleven when he died, flying back over to the UK to get a semi-permanent place in an orphanage. And now, Morgan had changed. The accent was one thing – she used to have this cute American accent and now she ended almost every sentence as if it were a question, her accent completely flipping round because she was raised in the UK. Her personality had changed as well; she used to be this happy-go-lucky, adventurous girl that was always smiling. And now, it seemed although she was suffering pain deep within herself, but covered it up with a sarcastic attitude and a want for arguments.

He was snapped out of his trance as Morgan waved a hand in front of his face, "Hello? Earth to Kurtis. I'm fine. It's you who seems troubled, not me."

"Definitely not the same." he sighed. She was back to normal again – the Morgan that didn't care.

"What?"

"Nothing." he replied dryly.

Then the silence overtook again. _This is going to be the death of me_, Lara thought, putting her hand just below her chin, leaning on it. Once again, Morgan was the one to break it, "Lara, could you...my...it needs..." At the lacking information that was given to her, Lara guessed she was talking about her burn.

Lara stood, mirroring Morgan's actions. "What are you talking about?" Kurtis asked, also standing.

"Nothing important. I just got a little burn last night. It isn't fatal so don't worry." she rolled her eyes. Kurtis sat back down and watched as the two exited the room, and then turning back to his plate of food. He should tell Morgan the truth – he preferred that than her overhearing Mason and him talking about it. But she wouldn't remember him. About a year after he lost contact, his father had hid Morgan away, putting her in a foster-home. Then she automatically went into an orphanage when her father died. She was only eleven, and she had lost everybody; her mother, father and brother. Only, she hadn't lost everyone just yet.

* * *

"So, what's the deal with you and Kurtis?" Morgan asked after Lara had finished re-dressing her wounds.

"Nothing." she sighed, finding her feet and walking over to her back-pack on her bed, putting the remains of the health pack in it.

"Don't lie, Lara. Anyone could see it."

"See what?"

"As if it wasn't obvious. Anyone could just glance at him when looking at you and tell he felt something for you. And it's the same thing with you." she smiled, "You have feelings for him." she playfully punched Lara on the arm.

"I told you. There's nothing." _There was something._

"Aha, so there was something. Now, lets see where we can work from that." she walked over to the mirror on the back of the door that led to the hall, pulling herblonde hair back into a ponytail with a bobble that had been resting on her arm.

"Oh, no. Don't tell me you can do that too."

"Yep. It's great isn't it?" she laughed, sitting down on the bed.

"For you maybe, not for me." she sat down beside her, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oi, stop trying to steer this in a different direction."

"There's nothing to steer in a different direction. This conversation is finished." she got up and walked into the bathroom and Morgan heard her turn a tap on. "But it's not. If you won't answer me, I'll just ask Kurtis."

Lara rushed out of the bathroom, "Don't you dare."

"Then tell me; do you have feelings for him? It's a simple question." she got up, heading to the dresser next to her bed and taking her sweatshirt off of it, pulling it over her and zipping it up.

"It's...complicated." Lara said, picking her back-pack up along with Morgan's small rucksack and handing it to her, before heading towards the door that led to the adjoining room. "If you say so." Morgan chuckled, brushing past her and into the room.

"You ready?" Lara asked upon following Morgan into the room.

"Almost." Mason said. He zipped a bag up and lifted his laptop into his hands, "Right, now we're ready."

Kurtis opened the door and the group walked out of the hotel after handing their keys back to the receptionist, into the car park and into a jeep that Mason had his butler drive along for them. Mason got into the front seat, Lara, Kurtis and Morgan into the back.

Half an hour later, they were stuck in a traffic jam, cars surrounding them and rain pattering off the windows. Morgan sat in between Lara and Kurtis, leaning her head against Kurtis' shoulder as she slept. Lara's head was leant against the window, her fingers tapping in time with the music that played on the radio.

"Her necks going to hurt." Kurtis said, shifting slightly in his seat.

"Here." she sighed, pulling Morgan's arm softly, making her move her head onto Lara's shoulder instead of Kurtis'.

Another patch of silence took over the group. Lara glanced out of the corner of her eye, over to Kurtis who was now doing what she had been doing a minuet ago, looking out of the window, staring into space. There was a bump in the road as Mason turned to the left. "What are you doing?" Lara asked, noticing their departure from the rest of the traffic.

"It was too dangerous, someone was following us." he glanced up at the mirror, checking that they were alone. No one was behind them.

"Would it not be a better idea to stay on the carriageway?"

"It wasn't busy enough."

"So you decided to drive threw a town instead. Yeah, there'll be a lot more traffic here." she said sarcastically. She looked down as Morgan stirred beside her and saw her open her eyes, pulling her head up, "How long 'till we get there?" she asked, yawning.

"Not long. Just out of here and then we'll be there." he said, once again looking up in the rear-view mirror. His eyes widened and he looked back at the road, "Lara, there's a case under the seat. Take out what you need."

"What?"

"Their behind us. Take what you need and keep it with you."

Lara reached down under her seat and felt a handle, pulling it to reveal a silver case. She lifted it onto her lap and unclipped the hooks on it, opening it to reveal a set of guns. She smiled and took a pistol out, handing it to Kurtis and then taking a second pistol out for herself. She watched as Kurtis turned around in his seat, looking for the people behind them, "Em. Mason, no one's there." he said, sitting back in his original position. Mason looked in the side mirror, not seeing anyone behind them. "I could have sworn someone was there." he muttered to himself.

"Well, we're alone."

"Karel can do that though; Play mind tricks." Lara said, glancing behind them just in-case.

"How long?" Morgan groaned.

"Oh, for crying out loud, you just that two minuets ago!" Kurtis said, turning to the girl.

"Calm down."

"Lucky for us, we're here." Mason pulled up outside a smaller house, but a private one all the same. It was alone, but was still surrounded by grounds. "We should get to the castle quicker from here. It's only a five minuet walk." he said, opening the door. He stepped out of the car and opened the door for Kurtis, then the pair getting the groups bags from the boot of the car.

Lara and Morgan made their way out of the car and then up to the gates of the house. Lara left Morgan looking around while she moved over to the car, helping Mason and Kurtis with the bags. Kurtis handed her her pack and then the three made their way up to the house, joining Morgan before heading up the path to the front door.

Mason opened the front door and the group walked in, following Mason into the living room. The house was a lot smaller than the previous one they had stayed in. It was about the same size as an ordinary house, but on private land instead of a street. Mason put his laptop down on the coffee table in the corner of the room and then turned back to the other three. "We should get going just now. The museum shuts at half four, so we'll have time to look around if we get there earlier."

"Wait, what castle are we going to again?" Morgan asked, heading back out the front door.

"Bamburgh, why?"

"I just fancy having a look around."

"Don't worry, you'll have three hours to look around." he followed after her.

"Are you OK?" Lara asked Kurtis when they were alone.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"Your mind seems to be somewhere else. That won't help once we're there." she headed out the door.

"It doesn't help now, either." he sighed to an empty room.

* * *

Lara opened the passenger door to the jeep, immediately being hit by the sea breeze. She smelt the seaweed from the beach down below and the wind challenged her footing. She closed her eyes, taking in the peaceful moment and then opened them again as Morgan made her way out of the car. She hugged her hoodie close to her chest and rubbed her arms as she stood beside Lara, "It's freezing here."

"You're right next to the sea, what do you expect?" she laughed. She watched as Kurtis handed a man at a toll booth a two pound coin and then him and Mason walking up to them. "We'll head up just now, get a look around and then get down to business." Kurtis said as the four began walking up stone ground towards the castle. There was some sand on the ground, from the beach located right next to the landmark, but apart from that, it looked spotless. Well, spotless for gravel anyway.

Lara made her way into a small alcove where a woman sat with a desk, "Good afternoon, miss. Would that be three adults and one child?" she asked.

"Yes, thank-you." Lara said, pulling her purse out of her back pocket and taking a ten pound note out, "Nine pound, fifty five, please." the lady smiled.

Lara handed her the note and then walked up the rest of the path, letting the lady keep the change she owed her. They worked their way up the slope, Morgan often drifting away to look at the cannons and the view that the castle offered. She rejoined the group again, "This place is beautiful." she smiled, looking around their surroundings.

They walked up the path and then stopped as they came to a patch of grass. The building in front of them was made of stone and Lara would say at least three times bigger than Croft Manor. The windows were decorated with stained glass and flower beds covered the outside of the grass. She sighed, "Bamburgh Castle," before walking into the museum part of the castle, Kurtis beside her and Mason and Morgan behind.

* * *

**AN: Ah, Bamburgh castle. The lovely home of the Bamburgh Beast and the Bamburgh sword.**

**I've put a few hints in that chapter with something to do with Morgan and Kurtis. Don't worry, it's not like he's her dad or anything, but you'll have to wait a few chapters to find out what I've done. **

**Catch you on Wednesday!**

* * *


	7. Tourists

Tourists

**AN: I'm gld some of you like Morgan! She isn't based on anyone, though. Just a comlpete figment of my imagination. Well, that's a lie, she's based on my friend, Shannon. Hyperactive teenager with the mental age of a two year old and the attitude of a dog. She's nicer than she sounds, though. **

* * *

Lara sighed, walking up to where Morgan was standing. She had drifted off into her own little world as soon as they stepped into the museum; almost being as bad as Lara, taking a great interest in the artefacts the exhibits had to offer. "Lara, look. Look how gold that looks." Morgan said as she stroked a finger over the small square glass case that contained a small, yet breathtaking object. It looked like it was made of pure, solid gold and patterns of swirls and markings covered the surface. "The Bamburgh Beast." Lara smiled. She gazed at it, taking in the beauty it showed, "Nobody knows what the markings are supposed to mean, except that when looked at from the right angle, it's supposed to show a beast that legend told haunted the grounds of the castle."

"What? Like a ghost?" Morgan chuckled.

"Nope. It was real. One summer, Sir William was out walking and found a dog. He brought it back to the castle, taking it in. Then, a year later, the residents of the castle began to mysteriously disappear-" Lara looked over her shoulder as she heard Kurtis laugh and saw him walking around a bronze model of the building, his head lowered, but she could still see the smile on his face, "- the dog went missing and a few weeks later, Sir William and his eldest son found the dog in the castle cemetery. It was deformed; foam coming out of it's mouth, you could see it's rib cage and it's eyes were bloodshot. Surrounding it were stacks of bones, all belonging to the royals of the castle. And then the dog looked up at them and then-"

"Boo!" Morgan jumped as Kurtis placed both hands on her shoulders, playing along with Lara's little tale. She turned around to see him laughing and lightly slapped him on the arm, "Don't do that!" she walked away, heading to the corner of the room, taking interest in other things. Lara laughed as her and Kurtis made their way to the model in the centre of the room. "What time is it?" he asked her. "We only arrived ten minuets ago." she chuckled.

"Well, I don't want to have to spend forever in one room, when I could be getting something done."

"Oh, shut up. You were only complaining this morning that you were worrying, and now you want to get involved."

"Well, I'm a busy man." he sighed sarcastically.

"Oh, I forgot how vegetating on a couch while watching TV could really fill up someone's time," she rolled her eyes and then walked over to Mason. "How long until we have to start looking?" she asked him. He looked up from the medieval clothing to see Lara. He glanced down at his watch before turning back to the exhibit. "We've got two hours of looking at the exhibits, one hour of looking for the shield, then the next half hour trying to smuggle it out of here."

"Brilliant, two hours of waiting." she sighed while making her way into the other room. The main thing that hit her as soon as she entered the room was the bookcase that covered the majority of the wall. Books were placed in many slots, only very few gaps being shown. Lara scanned her eyes along the books, all labelled with bronze writing, in Latin and English. She walked closer, reaching her hand out to pull a book out that seemed to strike attention to her. She heard someone clear their throat and looked up to see an elderly man in a black suit raising an eyebrow to her, "You look with your eyes, not your hands, Miss. Please don't touch the exhibits." he turned his back to her and Lara sighed as she watched him walk away. She took her hand back and then headed on into the third room. _Now, this is more like it,_ she smiled as she looked around the room. It was more like a hall than a room, being much bigger than all the others she had seen. Glass cases held 19th century guns, pocket knives and daggers. At the back of the hall, there was a part of the room that was sectioned off, showing furniture of many kinds. There was a globe of both the world and astronomy, a seating set, Lara judging that by the decorating patterns on them, they were more recent than any of the other objects, a glass dining table and above it all was a copy of one of the two versions of The Cheat.

She walked over to the first glass cabinet, running her hand along it, reading the piece's of information written next to each weapon. She looked up, just to make sure the 'you see with your eyes' man wasn't around and then making her way around the case, to look at the daggers laid on the other side. They were mostly made of iron, copper or bronze, each with Latin words inscribed on the handle. "Their beautiful, aren't they?" Lara looked up threw the glass case to see the elderly man again, this time looking more approachable than the last time she had seen him.

"They are." she smiled, now looking at the rifle in front of her. She heard the man walk away and then saw Morgan, Mason and Kurtis enter the room; Morgan walking over to some portraits of the Queens of England, Mason taking interest in other things, and Kurtis walking up to her. "I take it that man's bothering you." he sighed, nodding his head to the supervisor that was now standing in front of the restricted area. "Just treating me like a child." she laughed.

"Tell me about it. I touched the cover of the Bamburgh Beast while he was talking to Mason, and I got an earful. Just because he's a millennia older than me, doesn't mean I'm stupid."

"Well..."

"Don't." he warned. She chuckled lightly as they worked their way around the room, only staying at one item for a few minuets, and then moving onto the next. They finally came to the restricted area, standing just in front of the step. Lara gazed up at the picture that hung on the wall, "You know-" she began, but was cut off by the ignorant supervisor.

"Did you know that there were two copies of that painting made? The Cheat, was painted in two similar pictures, but one thing was different between the two." Lara sighed inwardly, but she knew she should be polite enough to listen to what the man had to say. "Can you spot how the man with the hat is cheating?"

"Well, some people think it's the fact that he has five aces, but-" Lara started, but was once again cut off by the man. She gave a sidewards glance at Kurtis, who rolled his eyes, then turning his attention back to the man. Obviously, he was wanting to tell the story, even answering his own questions. "You're correct. If you look close enough, the man is looking into the opposite man's glasses, and he can see the reflection of his opponents cards. The detail is so fine, it took someone with extra powered binoculars to spot that. And you have to position yourself in the right spot. Very difficult to do.

"Many people think that there is only one copy, but there's two, the second's location not being known." he said, before turning away and heading into the next room of the castle, Lara presuming to pester someone else. They began walking over to Morgan, "He's lying." Lara said to Kurtis.

He turned to face her, "What?"

"He said that that was The Cheat, it wasn't. The Cheat looks nothing like that. And one copy is in Fort Worth and the other in the Louvre. I saw it when I was looking for the painting. How lovely of him to lie for us."

"It's all the same to me." he ran a hand threw his hair as they arrived next to Morgan, who was still taking interest in pictures of the royals. "Right, that's Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth the Second and Queen Elizabeth the First, right?" she asked, not lifting her head.

"Yep. Well done, you pass you're history test." Kurtis teased, rubbing the top of her head, messing her hair up.

"I'm the top of my class and do you want a smack?" she took the bobble out of her hair, pulling it back up into a neater ponytail.

"I'm fine, thanks."

* * *

An hour later showed the group in the last room of the castle; the 'dungeon'. It was basically made of wax, dummies chained to walls here and there, nothing exciting. Earlier on, they had taken a break from their touring and had a quick bite to eat at the castle's café before returning to business. Morgan was still walking threw the halls of the made up dungeon, her peers waiting outside for her. She had actually enjoyed this more than she had expected; she never really took a liking to things like these – she preferred to be doing things than sitting around working things out. She may be the top student in most of her classes, but that didn't mean she liked the things she was meant to like. She walked into a room that looked like it was supposed to be a barn; hay covered the floor and a stool was in the corner. A hunched over dummy sat on the stool and Morgan leaned over to see it properly, jumping back as the person sat up, looking at her, "Shit!" she screamed.

She gasped, looking down to see a mobile phone in his hand, "Sorry, just...got a little...fright." she said in between intakes of breath. Her eyes still wide, she turned around, her hair flowing behind her and quickly sprinted out of the section of the castle, joining the group outside. She bent over, leaning her hands on her knees, "I am not going in there again." she chuckled before she stood up.

"We should get ready, we'll be going in any second." Mason said, looking at his watch for what seemed the millionth time that day.

"Again?" Morgan sighed.

"Don't worry, we're not forcing you to look at any scary bits of plastic, we need you to distract the workers while Kurtis, Lara and I get the shield."

"I take it you found it, because I don't have a clue where it is." Kurtis said.

Lara looked forward, appearing to be in deep thought, "It's in The Cheat, isn't it?" she asked.

She looked up to Mason who nodded his head. "If you look at it in the right spot, you can see the cheat." Lara mocked the supervisor's comment from earlier on in the day, beginning to walk away.

"How exactly?" Kurtis asked, catching up with her.

"If you listened to what that amazingly ignorant man said, you would have noticed that the cheat isn't the five aces. In our case, it is. One of the aces doesn't belong. The one that has the shield painted on it instead of a heart, club, spade or diamond."

"I thought that was a mistake."

"Nope." she smiled.

They finally made their way around to the front of the castle, once again stepping into the entrance. At the puzzled look the receptionist gave, Lara answered, "I forgot my car keys. We'll be out in a bit. Morgan will you stay here while we go look for them?"

"Fine." she sighed as she watched the older members of the group walk back into the castle.

* * *

"Hurry up." Kurtis said as he held the rope of the restricted area up for Lara to get under. "We've got five minuets at the most before Morgan either bores them to death or they become suspicious."

She ducked under the rope, looking left and right and then walking closer to the painting. She hesitated, looking down at the furniture she would have to use to get to the painting. Lara; being Lara, didn't want to ruin anything that had something of historical value, whether it be an ancient artefact or an old piece of furniture. She stood up on the couch and stretched up, lifting the painting off the wall. She turned back to Kurtis who tossed her a small pocket knife and she turned the painting, sliding the blade in between the frame and the picture. She lifted the backing away to see a medium sized metal plate, shaped in a triangle. "There's only one piece." she said, this time turning to Mason. "It's split in two. We'll worry about that later, meet us outside." he held his hand out and Lara threw him the shield and he caught it easily before he and Kurtis turned, exiting the hall as Lara put the painting in it's right position. She hopped down, brushing her hands and walking threw the door to the hall, shortly after her two companions. She walked threw the second room, stopping as a man brushed past her. He walked away without anything such as an apology and didn't even look up from the ground. He was very well-built, tall and bald, and dressed in a work uniform with a dark coat and boots. _Wait..._ Lara turned around, feeling she had seen his face somewhere before, but when she looked, he was gone.

She walked onwards, ignoring her curiosity and walked into the reception area to still find Morgan chatting away with the receptionist. Kurtis and Mason sat in the corner, Kurtis tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. Lara nodded her head, and they all made their way out of the room and back into the castle's grounds.

They walked down the ramp, all in a line. "There's only one piece there, what about the other one?" Lara asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, we'll have to check that one out."

"I'm not sure that the old man will appreciate you wrecking his pride and joy." Kurtis nudged Lara softly in the ribs.

"Well, that's what he gets for being so-" The group was thrown onto the ground as an explosion came from behind. Lara pushed herself off the ground and turned around to see smoke surrounding the castle, as well as fire working it's way threw the stone. She stood wide eyed and couldn't will herself to move as she heard everyone else get up, coughing from the impact. She dropped her backpack, beginning to sprint up the ramp again, towards the castle. She reached the top of the ramp before she felt an hand on her arm and turned around to see Kurtis stopping her, "Lara, we've got to go." he pulled on her arm, but she shook herself free and ran up towards the castle again. Who would do that? So many lives could have and probably had been lost in that single second. And to make it worse, it could have been them. She sprinted as hard as she could, wanting to get to the landmark and get anyone out alive that she could. Kurtis sprinted up to her, stopping in front of her, forcing her to stand still. He held his hands out in front if him, "Lara, we've got to go or we'll be next." he tried to comfort her, but he wasn't doing a very good job. She turned around as Kurtis sighed. He turned around to face the remains of the castle that had stood just moments ago, rubbing the back of his neck. This was getting far too risky. He turned back around to see Mason holding a hysterical Morgan in an embrace, as Lara continued down the slope. He jogged up to Morgan, taking her away from Mason, looking straight into her eyes, "Morgan, look at me. You're fine, OK?"

She nodded her head and then walked back over to her cousin who walked her down the gravel. He took one last look at the flames and then slowly turned away, walking down the hill with his companions. What had seemed to start out as an easy trip to a museum, had ended up in the deaths of dozens of people.

* * *

Lara walked into her room in Mason's current house, slamming the door shut behind her. She sighed as she sat down at the desk, propping her feet up on the desk, leaving muddy footprints on the wood and leaning her head back, closing her eyes. She just wanted to sleep. It would be the easiest thing to do. To fall asleep and then all her troubles would be gone. The only thing was, once you fell asleep, you had to wake up, and then all the havoc would come back. She opened her eyes, reaching into her jacket pocket to reveal the box Mason had showed her earlier. She switched the computer on that was situated at the desk, logging onto her email account. Taking her phone out, she connected a few wires to it, then hooked it up to the computer, clicking the 'chat' button on the screen.

After a few minuets, a video link of Croft Manor appeared on the screen, "Zip?" she asked as she saw her friend on the other end. At hearing his name, Zip looked up, jumping back in his chair as he saw Lara's face on his computer. "Lara, don't scare me like that."

"Sorry. I need you and Alistair to check something out for me." she played with the box in her fingers.

"How may we be of service?"

"I need you to look up the Box of Heissturm. Anything relevant to it's place of origin, the Bamburgh weapons or Kurtis himself."

"Will do, anything else?"

"No, thank-you. I'll contact you tomorrow. Good night."

"Night, Lara." Lara clicked the 'end' button and then shut her computer down, putting her feet back up on the desk.

She twisted around in the chair, grabbing the remote control and switching the television on, instantly showing Sky News. _"A supposed terrorist attack has taken place at Bamburgh Castle, Berwick. All artefacts and objects that were previously located in the castle have all been recovered apart from the Bamburgh Beast-" _Lara sighed, turning the television off again, taking her feet off of the desk as a printed document came threw the printer next to the computer.

She picked it up, quickly scanning threw it, smiling as she saw Zip's signature doodle at the end of the page. She looked back up, leaning back in her chair, reading the information. A knock came to the door and she looked up as Morgan entered the room, "Lara, it's all over the news. What are we going to do? Are we suspects? Why did we just leave without going back to help anyone? Is anyone dead? What's that?" she nodded towards the leaf of paper in Lara's hand.

"A bit of information. If you'd let me read it, I'll tell you what it says." she looked back down at the paper as Morgan sat herself on the edge of the bed.

She sighed, looking up at the teen. "It looks like we're going to Russia."

"Russia? Why?"

"Well, Moscow. I asked some of the people that help me out to find anything important about the box. They didn't find anything, but they know that the shield's second piece is in a stronghold somewhere. The only thing is, it was blown up decades ago."

"So we'll just dig or do whatever we need to do. And how do your friends know this?"

"I have very good friends." she smiled.

* * *

**AN: Does anyone know who the big baldy boy is that passed Lara? I'm not going to tell you for a little while, but you may have a hunch or two. Anyway, we're off to Moscow in the next chapter which will be up on... hang on....Sunday!**


	8. Actions from memories

Acting from memories

**AN: OK, a quick warning to all those Kurtis fans out there. (that are girls) THERE IS A TOPLESS KURTIS IN THIS CHAPTER! So don't say I didn't warn you. **

* * *

Lara turned over in her bed, facing away from the television that played in her bedroom. It was 3 AM and once again, she couldn't get to sleep. The television had been on for at least an hour, Lara only staring at it, not really taking in the sitcom it showed. Actually, what was it showing? She turned around onto her other side, reaching for the remote control placed on her bedside table. Sitting up, she pressed the blue info button and then looked up at the screen. _Still game. _She had never heard of it before, but she didn't really care for sitcoms anyway. She sighed, slipping her hand under her pillow as she lay back down, deciding to watch what the show had to offer. She rolled her eyes and turned it off, not even giving it a chance to entertain her. She moved onto her back, tilting her head to see out the narrow slit in the window, only to see what she had expected. Pitch black.

She sat back up, grabbing a cup on the table and then walking over to the door, pulling it open and feeling the breeze on her bare arms, her top being a simple tank top. She closed the door softly behind her, not wanting to wake any of the sleeping inhabitants of the house. She made her way to the staircase, walking down the steps two at a time as her braid slapped against her back. She sighed as she came to the end, rubbing her arms and shivering as the cold glass from the crystal container made contact with her skin. Entering the kitchen, she slapped her hand against the wall, searching for the light switch that she knew was nearby. Finding it, she pressed it down and scrunched her eyes as a burst of light came from the spotlights above her head, casting light onto the furniture and ornaments in the room. She walked over to the fridge, opening it and searching it's contents for something she could drink. Her eyes widened as she realised how much Mason needed to go shopping – all he had was a packet of eggs, some salad contents here and there, a carton of milk, a tub of butter and some strawberries. Then again, this wasn't his only property he needed to care for.

Seeing as the milk was the only thing it had to offer, she took it out of the fridge and kicked it shut, listening to the rest of the food shake at the force she used. She sat down at the table, leaning into the chair as she poured the white liquid into the glass, then twisting the cap back on and putting the carton down, sipping at her beverage. Rubbing her eyes, she put the glass down. There was a reason why she couldn't get to sleep; she was, and if she was completely honest with herself, she was petrified. To Lara, it was such a strange emotion, an emotion that she hadn't ever felt before. Which frightened her. She had never been in a situation which would make her feel like this, ever. And now that she had these thoughts and feelings bottled up inside her, it was making it worse. Nobody could ever know that she felt fear, it would ruin who she was. She was Lara Croft, someone that was daring and didn't feel anything but adrenaline and happiness when she held her trademark pistols in her hands, doing what she did best; raiding. Actually, she had been like that most of her life. She never really cared to fear something – she always thought that if she could hold her head high and keep walking when trouble came along, she would be fine. But that changed. As she grew older, she learned that the best way to extinguish your troubles was to stand and fight them, running away would only make things worse. But staying to fight is what got her into this mess. She was someone that, not matter how much they tried, would not stop until they got what they wanted and she didn't care if that got her killed or not. She was somebody who stood and fought, someone who would shoot first and ask questions later, and that's what made her her. But it might just be the death of her.

Nothing had ever made her think that she had done the wrong thing with her life, and that remained. Whatever Lara did made her stronger, giving her the energy to either fight or run, letting her have the option to do what she wanted in the time of danger. Whatever she did could never kill her, only make her stronger.

The lights flickered above her and she sighed, irritated as they brought on a small source of a headache and then as they switched off completely. She brought herself up, outstretching her hands as she made her way over to the counter covered by blackness, feeling her way to a drawer close by. Pulling at the handle, she looked down, being able to see the cutlery from the light cast by the streaks threw the blinds that had yet to be closed. She closed it, not finding what she was looking for before moving onto the next drawer, then looking up as she saw a small circle of light shine on the wall. She turned around swiftly, sighing with relief as she saw Kurtis walking into the room, trying to recognise the figure in front of him. "Is that you, Lara?" he asked, yawning.

"Yes. Why are you up so early?" she asked, sitting back down at the table.

"I couldn't sleep. Is it the same for you?" he turned around, trying the light switch Lara had used a few moments ago, only to find that the circuit was dead. He turned back around to face her, putting the torch down in the centre of the table, only to knock the glass over that Lara had been drinking from. He grunted as he reached down to pick it up, Lara then taking it out of his hands and making her way over to the sink, putting it in the basin, "It's not been something for me to do easily." she chuckled, returning to the table where Kurtis now sat. "Thanks."

Kurtis glanced uneasily around the room, averting his gaze to anything other than Lara, something that wasn't easy to do as the torch shone upon her features, highlighting the beauty she had. They sat in silence, not even trying to think of a topic sentence. Simple things between them had suddenly seemed to become so hard, little things like the word 'hello' making either one of their throats dry up, cracking and refusing to let any words escape their lips. Eye contact was another thing. Ever since they had been reunited, they had never truly looked into each others eyes, the only time being the night before when Kurtis had let some steam off on the closest available thing, in this case, Lara.

Lara got up again, heading over to the sink and turning the tap on, taking a cup from the cupboard above her head. She put the cup under the tap and watched as the clear liquid filled the glass, then turning the tap off, returning to Kurtis. She pushed the glass in front of him, "You look like you could use this." Actually, he looked like he had been to hell and back. What he really needed was at least 3 days sleep and 30 cups of coffee. He looked terrible. Well, terrible for Kurtis anyway.

"Thanks. You don't look too good yourself. No offence." he took the glass into his hands, sipping at it, quickly gulping down the refreshing contents. "None taken." she laughed. Then, for what seemed like the thousandth time, the silence settled itself on them, enveloping them into an uncomfortable state. "Look, Lara. I'm sorry for my attitude it's just that -" he began.

"It's fine. You've been threw a hard time. I can understand where you're coming from." she reassured him, but he wasn't going to let her pass over the matter.

"Just because I'm worried doesn't give me the right to blow up on you. You're going threw the same, and I know it, it's just...I can't explain it...it's just I think it should be me doing the work. Alone."

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, I partially got us into this mess, so I should be the one to get us out of it, shouldn't I?"

"You better not start all this 'I'm going to protect you' crap, because it's getting a little old." she stood up, making her way to exit the room, but Kurtis stopped her by grabbing her hand, also standing up. "I don't mean it like that." he let go of her hand, letting it drop to her side, "What I mean is that, I _was _the last of the Lux Veritatis, and took it upon myself to avenge them and my father. Instead, I left that to you, in order to fight Boaz. If I hadn't, I could have helped you and then Karel might have definitely been dead. That way, he wouldn't be here now."

"You can't kill a Nephilim, Kurtis. Not even God could, don't throw so much on yourself." she shook her head, turning around but Kurtis once again grabbed her hand, gently pulling her, but strong enough so that she could not release herself from his grip. "And? We still can't walk away." he questioned.

"You're one to talk about walking away." she felt her brow scrunch up at the anger that was flowing through her at that moment. That man had some nerve.

"But Lara, this is important." he sighed. Strike two.

"Oh, way to make someone feel appreciated. That's all I ever was to you; nothing? Just another notch on your bedpost? Just someone whom you happened to say 'I love you' to. Oh, silly me, you probably just say that to all the girls." she stared up at him, waiting for him to answer her. When he didn't even open his mouth, she laughed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. Then tears began to swell up in her eyes. "That's what I thought." she spat. She thought she could be stronger than this. She could have sworn she had changed for the better. She could have sworn she had changed back to the old Lara. The Lara that wouldn't let emotions in. But seeing Kurtis again was too hard. And for him to say something like that when he was so important to her, that hurt. "I was stupid to think I could do this." she sobbed, turning around again.

She began to walk to the door, but once again felt Kurtis' grip tighten around her wrist. "Just let me-" She didn't know what happened next. Only that she was forced up against a wall, Kurtis' lips pressed hard against hers. The action had taken her by surprise, but she was lost in the sensation of Kurtis being close to her, his body heat flowing threw his own being into her, warming her soul in the memories of years ago when they were children. The touch of his lips against hers, his hands rubbing smoothly down her arms brought shivers chasing each other up and down her spine, trying to overtake each other to see which one could make Lara snap into giving into him. She shouldn't respond, that would make her want to stay with him and that could only lead to her being distracted, not thinking of the logical topic at hand. But that's the first time she ever thought about it – logic. If someone asked her to jump from the Forth Road Bridge, diving into the water down below, she would insist it was possible, but not the logical thing to do, but yet she would still do it, twisting and turning in mid air to give the extra affect to the swan dive. If someone asked her to climb The Empire State building without climbing equipment she would insist that using climbing equipment would be the logical thing to do, but climb it without equipment and take in the exhilarating feeling of the adrenaline flowing through her veins, only powering her to climb higher. If someone asked her to marry them under the Eiffel Tower, she would say that the logical thing to do would be to not make a big deal out of it, but she would accept it and feel happy it happened in a romantic spot. She never took the logical thing into interest. She would always suggest the logical explanation, but it always went flying out the window with her.

Her mind was brought back to earth as she felt Kurtis' grip slacken on her arms, as if waiting for her to refuse him. Instead, she did what he hadn't been expecting. She lifted her arms up and closed her eyes, snaking her hands threw her hair, messing up his already trouseld locks. She felt Kurtis smile against her lips and then his arms wrap around her waist, holding her closer to him. It was as if they had never been apart. A few months ago, Kurtis had sworn that he would forget her, wipe her away from his mind as he regretted his actions. Yet here they were, only three days after meeting up with each other again, reconciling their feelings for each other, bringing the spark of romance in their lives back to life.

She brought her arms down to his neck, stroking the hair on the back of his neck, smiling slightly as the familiar scent of cigarettes and aftershave made their way to her nostrils, intoxicating her in his masculine scent.

Then she realised what she was doing.

Her eyes snapped open, and she pulled away, moving away from Kurtis. She turned around to face him and felt the sharp breeze that had settled in the house that night hit her arms, making her shiver at the lack of warmth, also making her miss the heat of Kurtis' body against hers. The taste of his lips lingered against hers, and she had to wait for the equilibrium levels high in her bloodstream to fall before any words could be spoken. She looked up at him, his head now leant against the wall, his breathing heavy.

He didn't know why he had acted like that, he just couldn't take it. Seeing her like that, thinking that she meant nothing to him – he just snapped. He felt something for her. He wanted her. Hell, he_ needed_ her. He loved her. Seeing her standing there, accusing him of feeling nothing for her, that was what did it. Since he saw her in that conversation with Mason a few days ago, every feeling of passion and romance was brought back to him like a boomerang. A boomerang that was sent flying away moths before, only to return to him when he least needed it. As his eyes had set themselves upon her face, his mind explored the possibilities of them together again, the possibilities of her still feeling one small bit of emotion for him. Whether that emotion be hatred or lust, he didn't care. He wanted her and he knew she wanted him. Or at least, he was sure she wanted him. At the time. He thought that if he had opened up to her again, she might accept him. He might have been wrong. He sighed as he pushed off against the wall, watching as tears slid down Lara's cheeks. "Don't, Kurtis. Please, just....don't" she sobbed, looking down at the ground. He walked over to her, taking her chin in his hand and directing her head up to face him, "I'm not going to hurt you, Lara." he tried to make eye contact with her, but she just continued to look away. If he got the slightest glimpse of the hazel in her eyes, it would be gone within a second. "But I can't promise I won't hurt you." she sighed. "I can't lose you again." She walked up to him, kissing him on the lips, trying to indicate that she still wanted him, "I just need time."

She turned away and walked slowly out of the kitchen, fighting the urge to turn around and look at him. If she did, she might not be able to hold herself from running up to him, apologizing for walking away by taking his head in her hands, kissing him furiously yet softly at the same time. She couldn't let herself feel like this. She felt something for him. She wanted him. She needed him. She loved him. She brought the tears away from her face with the back of her hand, coming to the bottom of the stairs. She heard footsteps beside her, then a door opening and closing, presumably Kurtis returning to his room. She regretted her actions and knew that she had most likely blown any chances of her and Kurtis getting along easily without each other out the window. But it was only a kiss. One simple kiss, it could hardly change anything. But it had changed everything.

She then found herself at the top of the stairs, making her way across the hall into her room. She opened her door, slamming it shut behind her, not caring whether she woke the others up or not. Walking over to her bed, she threw herself on top of it, looking out of the slit in the window again. She could see slight beams of light, meaning that the sun was beginning to come up. It would take some time to come up completely, but when it did, she could use it as relief. There was a big chance she couldn't get to sleep again, and lying awake in a bed would only lead to thinking. Thinking about her and Kurtis. Thinking about whether she did the right thing. Thinking about whether she had turned into the right thing. Regretting her choice.

* * *

Kurtis yawned as he opened the door to his bedroom, walking straight into the downstairs hall. Mason and him had been sleeping downstairs, so that they could make a quick escape if someone tired to get into the house, practically guarding the sleeping girls upstairs. He stretched his arms out, only to knock a vase over that was lying on a cabinet beside his door. He reached out and quickly grabbed it before it had a chance to crash into pieces on the ground. He sighed with relief as he caught it, then he stood back up, knocking into something behind him. He turned around to see Mason standing behind him, bumping into him again, making the vase go flying out of his hands. Mason quickly leaned over and grabbed it, putting it down on the cabinet, "Do you like trying to break my stuff?" he chuckled. "I had it under control, you just ruined my fun." Kurtis shot back with the same amount of sarcasm. In return, Mason just laughed, taking Kurtis by the shoulder and leading him to the living room a few doors down in the hall.

He pushed him down on the couch, then walking over to the desk in the room to pull out a box with markings on it that Kurtis couldn't make out. He recognised the box immediately and shot up, reaching out to grab it from Mason. He turned it over in his hands, taking in the familiar patterns and text that was carved on the object. It had been years since he had last seen this; twenty at least. And the last time he had seen it was during a conversation with his father that he did not want to have. His father was going on about him dying and telling Kurtis that he had to fight if anyone was to survive. And when he said anyone, he meant it. Kurtis had tried to stop him from continuing to talk like that, but he would insist that he needed to continue. He handed Kurtis the box, only for Kurtis to throw it on the ground and storm out of the room. He was only a child, he shouldn't have been listening to his father talk about him dying. No child should hear the words, "When I die..." Kurtis though aloud. He sat back down, staring at the box in his hands, all of the present world wiped away from his mind, only focusing on the object in front of him.

_A fourteen year old Kurtis ran into the house, slamming the door shut behind him, locking it quickly with his key and then making his way over to one of the many windows in the room. He pressed the button on the window sill down, meaning they were also locked and then pulled the curtains shut, swiftly turning around to do the same to the other windows in the room. He sighed heavily as he sprinted over to the kitchen, searching threw the drawers and cupboards for the weapon his father had insisted he used at this specific time. He had barley stepped out of the school gates before they had turned up, pushing their way threw the crowds of pupils lined up to get on the school bus to get to him. He was alone when he had come home, making him feel the fear more than ever. If he was alone, there was a bigger chance that no-one would know of his death but they could know that the Cabal had something to do with it. There was a thumping at the door and he made his searchings quicker, sighing with relief as he found what he was looking for. _

_He turned around, walking back threw to the living room and grabbing his bag, fishing threw the contents. He found what he was looking for and lifted his mobile out of the bag, quickly dialling the number that he needed most at this time. He lifted it up to his ear and listened as it rung, then as he heard a voice at the other end of the line, tears began to stream down his face, "Dad? They're here. I can't do it."_

_He turned around as another blow came to the door and listened to his fathers voice on the receiving end of the phone, "But I don't know how to use it...." he dropped the phone as the door was burst open and backed up against a wall as mercenaries flooded the room, one distinct man standing out from the rest. He looked down at the weapon in his hand, completely unsure of how to use it. He had seen his father use it many times, but never had he been taught or told how to hold it, never mind handle it. His grip tightened as guns were aimed at his head and who he assumed was the lead mercenary stepped forward, "So this is the famous Kurtis Heissturm? I must say, you seem nothing like your father." he laughed, making Kurtis step back further only for his back to hit the concrete of the wall. "Now, where would your father be hiding?" _

_Kurtis felt his teeth grip together and then everything blacked out. He heard screams of agony around him, but somehow the blackness stayed around him. He knew he was conscious – he could hear, feel and taste everything around him, but somehow he couldn't react. His eyes were open, but somehow he couldn't see. He had done something, but what he did, he wasn't sure. He felt something cool and hard enclose itself in his grip and then a jolt of energy flow threw him as something tugged at the end of his arm. His sight was suddenly returned to him and he found himself lying on the floor. He gasped and sat up straight looking around the room to see blood everywhere, bodies littered on the floor. He set his sight down onto his hand, to see the weapon his father had given him covered in blood, the tips of five spikes visible from within the metal. He got up, sprinting over to each of the bodies to check their pulse, only finding the lead mercenary to be alive. Fourteen years old and a murderer. _

_He looked up as another figure walked in the room and sighed with relief as he saw his father run threw, jogging straight to Kurtis. He looked up at his father with tears in his eyes and then dropped the weapon on the floor. "Kurtis....Kurtis, look at me." he took Kurtis by the shoulders and shook him until he brought his gaze from the corpses on the floor to his father. "They'll keep coming." he warned. "You can't fight them off forever." _

_Kurtis sighed as tears forced their way out of his eyes, the salty liquid soaking his cheeks. His father wiped a tear away before lifting something out of his pocket. He took Kurtis' hands in his own and put an object into his hands. His father had always been straight forward. He had never been that good at looking after his family. He loved them more than anything – and Kurtis knew that – it's just that things seemed different when they were on the run. "You need to look after this. When I die..."  
_

"Kurtis? Kurtis?" Mason shook his companion out of his dream state, interrupting the memory that had been forgotten until that moment. "How did you get this?" he asked, looking up at him not knowing which answer to expect. "My father gave it to me."

"_My _father gave it to _me_." Kurtis corrected. "Then he took it away to give to some other bloke until he was certain I was going to be involved in the war." he stood up, putting the box down on the desk.

"That 'other bloke' happened to be my father. Your father wasn't sure if you would help or not, and he couldn't risk something so valuable getting lost."

"So he gave it to someone that didn't even have the right to have it?!"

"You abandoned your family and the Lux Veritatis when you moved to France, Kurtis. You made it clear that you didn't want anything to do with either of them."

"That still doesn't give you the right to have it. There's only two people who can open that box and you know who they are!" he walked closer to Mason, resisting the urge to hit him there and then.

"But it wouldn't have been safe with you! Get that threw your skull! You went off and joined a mercenary recruitment, the leader of whom was who attacked you when you were younger! You honestly believe it would have been safe with you? Gunderson isn't stupid, if he knew who you were at the time, he would have killed you there and then."

"You know nothing about me. You can't even open the box! You know who can open it, but you just liked the feeling that you were actually needed. But the truth is, you're just a companion. There's only two people who have a true destiny with the Lux Veritatis, but you liked the feeling that you could be one of them. You don't even have the blood of a Heissturm! There's no way you could do anything with the box!"

"If you're so cocky about this, Kurtis, then go ahead and say who can actually open the box. Go, say it. You and who? That's right, you can't say it. You're too scared to admit that you did wrong. You won't tell yourself the other person because it'll make you hurt inside. It'll make you hurt because you left her like she was a piece of shit. You left her when your mother and father had no way of looking after her. You left her for dead." he spat.

"You know nothing! It still doesn't make sense! He gave me the Chirugai and the Periapt Shards, things that any Lux could use. But he gave you the box. He didn't even give you both of them! Why give them to you instead of to the people who actually need it?"

"He thought you were gone, Kurtis. And there's no way she could have used it. It would have been just as safe with her as it would have been with you. If she even got a paper cut while the box was around, everything would be over. There weren't any risks when it was with me."

"Weren't any risks?!"

"You know that a single drop of blood from either of you could open the box."

"Right, I'm really not in the mood to get into a fight about this. All I'm saying is that the box belongs to me. I'll look after it from now on." he made his way over to the door as he felt his stomach crave food, but Mason stopped him, "You know that you couldn't have kept it safe. You know your father did the right thing."

He turned back to face him, sighing before making his way out of the living room, walking across the hall to go back to his room. He yawned again, looking up to the stairs to see Lara coming down them. He stood there, watching her, as the events of earlier that morning replayed in his head. He really thought that she felt something for him, but she had rejected him. She may have responded kindly at first, but she had refused him all the same. She was the one that thought she meant nothing to him, but now it was him that was thinking that. She said it was time she needed, and he was willing to give her that. But he didn't want her in time. He wanted her now, he felt he couldn't live without her. Four months had changed how he felt about her. For the better.

He looked away from her and listened as she sighed at his behaviour and then he turned back to her, only to see that she was gone. Rolling his eyes, he walked over to his room, closing his door behind him and going to his suitcase in the wardrobe and dumping it on his bed. He opened it up and pulled his top over his head, dumping it in his suitcase. He pulled a second one out, but before he could put it on, he heard his door open behind him.

Lara walked into Kurtis' room, in too much a hurry to knock to find him topless – his trademark appearance. She shut the door behind her and let her eyes wonder down his toned stomach, taking in every muscle that looked as hard as steel to the sight, but soft and soothing to the touch. Her eyes soon found his face, one which looked both angry and somewhat happy at the same time. "Don't you knock?" he asked.

"About last night..." she began, walking over to him so they were only millimetres apart, but she was rudely cut off by Kurtis. "I understand, Lara." he sighed.

"No, you don't." she took his chin between two of her fingers and turned his head to face her. She slowly leaned in, until their lips were lightly brushing together. She snapped away from her trance as a knock came to the door and both Lara and Kurtis turned to face it, Kurtis quickly pulling his top over his head. Lara sighed inwardly, she was so set on telling him how she felt, but that way had seemed the only way to do it. They were so close, but someone had spoiled it. They watched as Morgan entered the room, only half of her head being seen. It was the most tired half of a face Lara had ever seen. "Mason said we should be getting ready. We'll be leaving for Moscow soon." she said.

"Thank-you." Lara said as Morgan moved away, closing the door behind her. She turned around to look back at Kurtis who just sighed and then she exited the room, leaving him to do whatever it was he was doing before she had interrupted.

* * *

**AN: Damn it, Morgan! They were just about to kiss! See you on Friday! XD**


	9. Abandoned Lives

**AN: Hey dudes and dudetts! Sorry for the late update, I was REALLY busy at the weekend. **

**Oh, and this is a short chapter. Sorry**

* * *

The mirrors were cracked and dusty, but she could still make out her reflection from the remaining pieces of glass that sat on the wall. Looking around the room – the rest of the furniture didn't get any other mark. Some cubical doors were gratified, their hinges rusty and unstable. Lime scale and water marks covered the sinks, and looked like they hadn't been cleaned in some time. She brought her attention back to her image and sighed as she realised how tired she looked. Bags were under her eyes, and they were barely open. Her lip was cracked in certain places – Lara had been picking at it. She did that when she was younger, and in a time when she was especially nervous, it would sometimes lead to her lip bleeding non-stop. She smiled politely as a woman exited a cubical, quickly scrubbing her hands under the sink before exiting the public toilets, leaving Lara alone. She rolled her eyes as she drew her attention back to her reflection.

They had arrived in Moscow approximately an hour ago, but it had seemed a lot longer than that. Every second seemed like a minuet. Every minuet seemed like an hour and every hour seemed like a day. She was still on British time, making it 1 AM to her. Sure, it was still early in Russia, just earlier in Britain. She yawned and lifted her backpack onto the counter, fishing threw it's contents. She found her bottle of Coke she had bought earlier and quickly gulped it down, trying to wake herself up by taking in the kick the fizz of the juice offered. It wasn't working. She put it back in her pack, flinging her bag over her shoulder and walking over to the door, pushing it open and apologizing as she was close to hitting a woman with the force she used. Not that it would help – she probably had no clue what she was talking about. She looked down at the ground as she exited the corridor into the rest of the airport. She looked around as families carrying luggage rushed past, presumably trying to get to their boarding gate. She walked over to where Morgan was sitting, her arms folded over the back of a chair, leaning her head in the middle of them. She looked up as Lara sat down next to her and smiled before putting her head back down. Lara leaned her head back and closed her eyes, "You tired too, huh?" Morgan mumbled, her voice barely understandable.

"Just a tad." she yawned. She heard someone walk over to her and put something on her lap. Looking down, she saw a cup of coffee being held there. Tracing the hand back to it's owner, she saw Kurtis standing over her, drinking his own beverage. "You look like you could use this." he nodded after he brought his cup down from his mouth. Ignoring his 'enthusiasm' for Lara to have coffee, she gave it to Morgan, who only looked up to see what was hot on her lap. "She needs it more than me." she sighed, leaning her head back again. She heard Kurtis make a slight tutting sound as he sat down opposite them, but didn't make any motion to defend herself.

A few minuets passed and Lara felt herself on the verge of unconsciousness, before Mason turned up with their luggage. They had come off the plane, got a quick sandwich from a café and then departed ways, Kurtis going to look around the shops for anything interesting, Morgan staying put and just trying to rest, Lara going to the toilet and Mason going to collect their bags. She stood up, stretching her arms out as he handed her her suitcase, Morgan hers and Kurtis his. The rest of the group stood up, Kurtis throwing his cup in the bin and Morgan quickly swallowing the rest of the drink down, then putting it down on the floor.

"Lets get going." Lara said as she began to lead the group to the exit of the airport. "If her majesty says so." Kurtis rolled his eyes and followed after his peers.

The cold air was the first thing that hit him as he stepped out of the building. The chill invaded his space, making him hug his leather jacket closer to his body. He looked around, and was surprised to see how quiet it was, considering the airport had been so busy. They walked over to a taxi Mason had phoned to pick them up and Kurtis collected the luggage and put them in the boot of the car, slamming it shut behind him. He got into the taxi and shut the door behind him, looking behind him to the rest of the group in the back of the taxi. Morgan was nearly asleep already and Mason was being his usual Mason – the sound one. Lara hadn't spoken to him since their last encounter the night before, when Morgan had 'thankfully' stopped anything being taken any further. She had just been giving him the cold shoulder all day, as if it were his fault that nothing had happened between them. She was the one that walked away – not him. She had made it clear how she felt about him, but it seemed like she still wanted him to feel bad for something. He knew he had done bad months ago, but he showed her he was willing to make up for that. Instead of accepting his proposal, she shoved him away. Just like the 'new' Lara always did. But that was her doing. He would just let it go. He wouldn't dwell in the past. Never had. Never will.

He turned back around to face the front as the cab driver began to leave the pavement, heading in the direction of the near-by hotel.

* * *

Morgan opened the door to the hotel room and quickly threw her bags down on the floor, rushing for the bed and laughing as she jumped on top of it, closing her eyes, just wanting to sleep. But everyone else had other ideas. "Don't get too comfortable, Morgan, we've got work to do." Mason yawned, sitting down at the desk, the first thing on his mind his laptop. He lifted his case up, zipping the main compartment out and lifting his silver laptop, placing it down on the mahogany desk. "I'll be staying here, just in case Karel has tracked us down. With Morgan." he added the end with a sigh.

_Brilliant, stuck alone with him,_ Lara thought. It wasn't that she didn't like Kurtis' company, it's just that that was the last thing she needed at this time. She sat down on the bed next to Morgan and sighed as she saw Kurtis exit the room with his bag, making his way over to their other room across the hall from Morgan and Lara's. She heard a beeping noise and looking through her backpack, she found her phone ringing and quickly lifted it to her ear. "Alister?" she asked upon hearing his voice at the other end of the phone. _"Lara, we've got the location of the first part of the sword."_

"First part?"

"_Yes, the sword is split into three pieces."_

"That makes things better." she rolled her eyes.

"_There should be an abandoned call centre a few miles from where you are, can you get there OK?"_

Lara looked around the room until her eyes were set upon the window. She gazed outside and sighed, "With all the snow, should be hard."

"_Zip says he can help you with getting in. Use the headsets."_

"Thank-you, Alister. Make sure to tell us if anything else comes up."

She hung up the phone after Alister reassured her that he would give them all the help he could. She stood up and took the headsets out of her bag. She looked back at Morgan who was almost asleep with her head rested on the pillow and then made her way to exit the room. She closed her eyes and exhaled a breath she didn't even know she was holding before moving to the door of Kurtis and Mason's hotel room. She knocked once before the door opened, Kurtis leaning on the door frame. She looked up at him as he nodded his head, urging her to speak. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Here." she handed him his headset and LED light that she had taken from her manor a few days ago. "I'm not leaving just now, we'll go later on in the afternoon." she turned around and began to go back to her own room. "How nice of you to make the decision for me." his voice was dripping with sarcasm, and it infected Lara like venom from a snake. She quickly turned around to challenge him with the words on the tip of her tounge, but when she finally set her eyes upon his door – he was gone.

* * *

Lara awoke the next morning when a loud banging came to her door. Her eyes were snapped open as the banging became louder and forced herself from her slumber. She looked over at her cheaply made alarm clock the hotel owned and her eyes widened at the time. She quickly stood up and made her way over to the door, not noticing Morgan wasn't in the room. She opened it with a yawn to see Mason standing there, "Hurry up, you should be leaving soon. Meet me in Kurtis and I's room in 20 minuets for breakfast." he sighed.

"20 minuets." she nodded, closing the door.

Twenty minuets later, Lara was in the hall, making her way to the other room. She opened it and the smell of fresh coffee and toast was the first things she noticed. She let the scents invade her nostrils and quickly took the plate of food Mason offered to her. Kurtis was standing by the window with a cup of coffee in his hand and Morgan was sitting on the bed, staring blankly at the television. "The building is a few miles south-west of here. You should get there in a couple of minuets, and it shouldn't take long to find the sword. The place is abandoned, there shouldn't be anybody to worry about."

Mason looked behind him to Kurtis, then turned back to Lara, "Will you two be OK?"

Lara let her gaze secure on Kurtis who was now looking at them both. She gazed into his eyes, taking advantage of the first time she could actually look at them without it causing an argument. "Yes. We will. Because I'm going alone."

"You're not going alone, Lara. I'm not an animal – I'm not going to rip your head off." Kurtis sighed.

Lara nodded, lifting her headset to her ear, clipping it in. "Morgan and I can keep in touch with you, Kurtis and Zip threw my laptop. It's connected to your headset and camera." Mason pointed out, handing her a set of keys. "What are these for?" she asked.

"The snow is too heavy to get to the building in a car. I've managed to book two snow-mobiles for you."

Lara smiled, "Brilliant."

"Lets get going, then." Kurtis said, grabbing his headset off the table and his own keys off Mason and then opened and exited the door to the room, not exchanging any other words with his peers. Lara rolled her eyes and followed after him.

* * *

Lara hugged her thick jacket as her and Kurtis stopped the snow-mobiles. She flung her leg over one side, getting off the bike completely and stood up, taking in the image in front of her. Snow covered every spot of ground that could be seen and below them, far below, was a building, partially covered in the white substance. Mountains of snow were parallel to them, even bigger amounts squaring the building in from anything else. Getting in and out would be harder than she thought. She took her binoculars out and brought them up to her face, zooming in on the view in front of her. "Snow's everywhere. Even on the building. It will take some work to get in." she sighed, putting them back in her backpack. "Do you think you can handle it?" she asked, getting back on her bike, but this time standing up instead of sitting down on the seat. As an answer, Kurtis revved his bike up again and raced towards the building. Sighing, Lara followed after him.

She had expected the road to be smooth with all the snow that was melting, but it was anything but. She was nearly jolted into the air several times by the time they reached the call centre. She slammed the breaks down quickly and almost skidded off the edge of the range of snow. She got off it and looked around, "Looks like we're walking from here." she sighed, beginning to slide down the snow to the foot of the building. She heard a grunt behind her, presumably Kurtis following her. She gazed around, noticing that the walls she had seen minuets ago were merely water towers. She tapped into her headset "Zip, we're here, where is it?" she heard him sigh on the other end.

"_You're right on top of it."_

She looked down to see a glass imprint on the ground. Kneeling down, she dusted some snow off with the back of her hand to see a glass shaft on the ground. _"Elevator shaft. Probably the easiest way to get in."_ Zip pointed out rather matter-of-factly on the other end of her headset. Lara withdrew one of her pistols and trained it on the hinges of the shaft's door. She fired once and quickly jumped back as the whole square of glass caved in. She put her pistol back in it's holster and walked to the edge of the shaft, swaying her arms as she came to the end, looking over a sea of black, with what looked like an endless amount of fall. "Long way down. All the more fun." she smiled, turning back to Kurtis. "Yeah, fun." he replied dryly.

Ignoring Kurtis, Lara unhooked her grapple fro her belt, extending it and folding it and stretching it in her hands. She turned around and knelt down, hooking the claw of the grapple onto the edge of the shaft. She looked down as she jumped into the opening, swinging as she gripped onto the rope of the grapple. She reached into her backpack, taking a flare out and snapping it against her leg before holding it up in the air. She looked around, and let go of the rope, grunting as she hit solid metal, "The elevator's here. Just jump down." she shouted up to Kurtis. She watched as he crawled over the edge of the opening, lowering himself down before dropping completely to the ground.

He squatted as he landed and dusted his hands off, "Awful stable for-" he felt the lift below them shift and noticed that his weight wasn't the best of things for the elevator to be carrying. He quickly dived down, opening the crate that could let them into the elevator and jumped down, dragging Lara with him.

When they hit the ground, Lara felt the wind being knocked out of her. She pulled herself up and sat against the wall, reaching her hands out as the shaft began to move again. _"Get out of there, it won't hold you for much longer!" _Zip screamed to both of them threw the headset. Kurtis looked around frantically, searching for a means of escape. A ventilation shaft was placed just above them on the wall of the elevator and Kurtis quickly pushed his hand out, bashing the vent cover. Dents covered it before it finally caved in and he quickly grabbed Lara by the arm and urging her towards it. "Quick!" he took her by the waist and lifted her into the air. She quickly crawled into the space and turned around, ready to grab Kurtis and give him help if he needed it. She saw his hand on the edge of the vent and crawled forward. She reached her hand out and began to pull him up, but his weight was too much for her. "Give me your other hand!" she shouted to him. She closed her eyes, pulling harder until she was pulled forward by something. Her eyes shot open and she saw nothing but blackness in front of her. She looked down to see Kurtis' hand slipping over the edge of the crating and quickly reached out, but it was too late. "Kurtis!" she watched as he fell down until he was too far away to see. "Kurtis!" No answer.

She stared wide eyed, straight ahead, looking at nothing. She turned around as she felt salty liquid tear up in her eyes, _"Lara?! Lara! You still with me?" _

"We've lost Kurtis." she continued onwards threw the vent.

* * *

**AN: I know – it's short. But don't ya just love your cliffies???? No? Well, only one person knows where I live. Thank God for that!**

**Now, I realise I updated late, but I was busy so I'll give you a quick update for Tuesday, OK?**


	10. Left

Left

**AN: Hey, hey. Thanks for not going out and killing someone because of the drop (yes, that means you crazymartianfighter) :-)**

Lara switched her LED light on as she came to another end of a vent, sighing as she found what she had been coming to all along. An option to go left or ahead, _"Left."_ Zip said. Lara sighed, "What's ahead?"

"_Left." _he said again. _"Go left, Lara."_ he ordered.

"Say it nicely." she smiled.

"_Fine, please go left."_ he sighed. Lara smiled to herself, "Forward it is, then." She got back down onto her hands and knees, breathing heavier as she crawled further into the vent, her breaths visible as cold frost from her mouth. She kept herself moving, even when her body willed her to stop, the cold and the test against her muscles having an obvious effect on her. She stopped as she came to a 'T' option. The options were either left, right or behind. "Which way?" she knelt up, rubbing her hands together and blowing hot air onto them, trying to keep herself somewhat warm. "_Up."_ he laughed. Lara looked up, seeing another alcove that she would be able to fit into. She crawled over to where the space was bigger, reaching her hands up and standing up, pulling herself into the alcove. She squatted back down on her hands and knees, pulling herself along until she came to an opening – a vent cover in front of her. "Do you know where this leads to?" she asked. _"Hang on...to a staff room. Be careful, ice covers everything. There's a few wires that have mixed with melted water, so watch out for them too." _

"Thank-you." she pulled her pistol out of her holster, attaching a silencer in her backpack to it. She trained it at eye level, aiming at the crate and firing three shots, knocking half the crate off. She leaned back, holstering her weapon and kicking the rest of the crate off. She peered over the edge of the vent, checking if it was safe for her to enter and when the place appeared safe, she slipped down, dusting her hands off as she landed.

She looked around the room, gazing down the lockers of the staff room. She walked over and pulled one open, shaking her hands after they stung from the sheer force she had to use to open them. Nothing interesting. She continued threw the rest of the six lockers, not finding anything that was of any relevance. She turned around and pulled herself back into the shaft, "Nothing interesting." she sighed. "Looks like we're going down."

"_Yes, down and to the left." _she heard Zip chuckle on the other end. "To the left." she smirked.

She pulled herself down, feet first and landed in a crouched position. _"Lara, there's some interference over -"_

"Zip? Zip?!" she tapped into her headset but quickly pulled it out of her ear when the only reply was a loud buzzing noise. She sighed, lifting it back to her ear before carrying on, without any idea of where she was going.

Half an hour later, Lara was on a road to...well, nowhere. She had no idea where she was heading, what room she was looking for and it seemed like she was going in circles. She was now leant against a wall, only herself for company, freezing her ass off, just sitting. An open space was in front of her, which would lead into a hall, but she didn't have the hope or energy to get there. Her mind was focused on other things. Like Kurtis. She could have sworn she had a firm grip on his hand, but he just...fell. Or had he let go? She rushed to get to him, God knows she did, but his larger frame was too heavy to hold onto. He just....let go. But she didn't feel like he was gone. There was this...connection between them, and that felt the same. If he was dead, she would have felt it.

She closed her eyes, hugging her jacket close to her body, trying to find some warmth. They snapped open as she heard something near and stealthed over to the opening. Alarm bells rang in her head as she recognised the familiar sound of mercenary codes. She gripped the handles of her pistols and breathed slowly as she waited for them to move on, not finding anything. When she was sure she was alone again, she crept out of the vent, standing up and stretching her legs as she came out. She looked around, finding herself in a power room. The owners of the voices came back and she ducked around a corner, hugging the wall. She strained her ears, trying to do what she wanted on exact timing; if she didn't, it wouldn't work.

Two men passed her and she took a deep breath, hitting one mercenary over the head with the butt of her gun, making the other man turn around. Before he could fully face her, she wrapped a hand around his throat, putting the other one just below his temple. Quickly and cleanly, she twisted his head to the left, snapping his neck before releasing her grip, letting the body drop to the ground, unmoving. She looked around the room again, making her way over to a boiler. She ran her hand along it until she felt a lever on it's side and she pulled it down, stepping back as it lit up, powering other objects in the room.

The room almost instantly heated up, making her shiver before her face lit up with colour, it being pale before. She smiled to herself, turning around to face a mercenary. Her smile dropped as he brought his gun up, but she quickly took her own gun from it's holster, firing a bullet in between the assassin's eyes. She ducked down under the vent, keeping stealth in mind as her silencer had not been attached to her gun. She felt a force coming towards her and looked up to see that she had switched the air conditioning on, the fans in the vents twisting around to cool the air. Not that it needed cooling.

She stood up as she crawled back to the first vertical alcove, sighing with relief as a voice began to play over the headset. _"Lara? Lara?!" _That wasn't Zip's voice. "_Lara, it's me."_ Kurtis.

"Kurtis?! Where the hell have you been?!" she screamed, quiet enough so no-one could hear her, but enough so he could get her point. _"Is it my fault that it takes some time to recover from free falling to your near death? Where are you?" _

"In the ventilation shaft."

"_Still?" _

Ignoring his comment, Lara crawled to the end of the shaft, seeing that it led to a drop, where an elevator should have been. She snapped her head up as she heard gunshots on the other end of the headset. _"Shit! Lara, we've got company! They're going up to the vents, Lara. Get -"_ the line went dead. "Kurtis?! Kurtis!" she tapped into the headset, but a screeching noise was her only reply.

She sat against the wall, rubbing her temple with her hand. _"Lara, you OK?" _Zip was back.

She thumped her head against the wall, sighing again. "If I've lost him again-" she turned around as bullets whizzed past her ears, close enough to cut a strand of hair from her head. She stood up, seeing two mercenaries holding their guns to her head and then swiftly turned on her heels, sprinting forward before leaping off of the vent, quickly grabbing the elevator ropes, only to let go again as the ice on the ropes burned her hands. She quickly wrapped her gloved hands around them. A bullet embedded itself in her shoulder, and she cringed against the pain, but didn't let her grip slacken. She grabbed her pistol and fired bullets at her opponents, smiling when they finally fell. _"Climb up a bit and then there's a vent that can lead to an office."_

Lara grunted as she began to pull herself along the rope quickly. Looking around her, she saw an opening just ahead and she quickly swung on the rope, jumping off as she got close enough to it. She landed with a grunt and found that there was enough space for her to stand up. Doing so, she found an open grate on her left hand side and looked as a pair of legs covered her exit. They were so close, that if she wanted to, she could stick her finger out and poke the calf's of the legs. Taking in a deep breath, she struck her legs out, startling the owner of the legs, but not knocking them to the ground. She quickly ducked under the opening, forcing a powerful kick to her opponent, with her eyes closed, making them fall to the ground. She opened her eyes and gasped as she saw who she had attacked. She quickly knelt down, lifting Kurtis up, dusting the frost off his back. "Is that the new way we say hello to each other?" he asked sarcastically, rubbing the back of his head. He brushed her off him, but she wouldn't let go as she found a bullet hole in his thigh. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing much. You think this is bad, you should see him." he laughed.

Lara shook her head, starting to walk in the direction of a glass door. Threw it, she could see a wooden desk, pictures here and there and a filing cabinet, all of them looking like they hadn't been touched in years. Voices came from behind them and Kurtis frantically searched for a way to get into the office. Sighing, he took a few steps back before throwing his hands out in front of him, knocking the glass doors off their hinges. He sprinted into the office, dragging Lara in by the arm and ducked behind a wall, waiting for the voices to pass. Once he was sure they were safe, he let go of her arm, walking over to the desk.

He opened the drawer to his left and quickly looked threw it, "Any idea what we're looking for?" he asked Lara. She opened a filing cabinet, flicking threw the files that it held. "A sword fragment. Probably about a third the size of the shield." she sighed, closing the file and opening a second one. _"Lara, you've got about five minuets in there before your buddies find you." _Zip warned.

Lara sighed in frustration, slamming the door shut before moving onto the next one. Kurtis ran a hand threw his messy hair, quickly pulling out the contents of the drawer. He thumbed at the pieces of paper in his hand and stopped as one heading caught his eye, "Lara, we better get the sword, and fast." he threw the papers back down, searching frantically threw the drawers. "Why?" Lara didn't look up as she stopped looking threw the filing cabinets. "Karel had some business here before, he knows where it is." he threw the papers down on the table, walking over to the nearby bookcase and throwing the white sheet off that covered it. He smiled to himself when he saw that the content of the bookcase wasn't a book, but a small black box. He opened it up after lifting it off the shelf and his smile grew as he found a sword fragment, about a 1/5 bigger than his hand. He turned around and waved it in the air and began to walk out the door, Lara's smile equally big, following after him. They walked along the hall, starting to run as they heard footsteps. Lara looked behind her as she overtook Kurtis, her face growing pale as she saw mercenaries trying to catch up to them, beginning to aim their guns at them. Lara turned back, taking in a deep breath as she saw a group of unstable platforms in front of her, scattered across an empty pit, which would most likely lead to falling to her death if she misplaced one foot.

She sprinted towards the drop, throwing herself into the air and flipping before she landed. She continued to jog to the edge of the platform, stopping as she looked down and in front of her. She looked back to see that both Kurtis and the mercenaries were catching up and took a few steps back, bouncing on her toes before sprinting forwards, jumping into the air and moving her arms and legs in the air, making it look as if she was still running. She grabbed the edge of the platform, pulling herself into a handstand before placing her feet down on the platform, looking over her shoulder and walking forward as Kurtis joined her. She looked forward, closing her eyes. She moved backwards, shoving Kurtis out of the way and then ran forward, moving into a swan dive as she jumped into the air.

Quickly, she opened her eyes and grabbed her grapple hook, throwing it into the air, it twisting around a pillar that was on the other end of the gap. She quickly tugged on the rope, making it pull her up and she swung forward, releasing the grapple and landing on the last platform. She turned around and smiled to Kurtis as he stared at her with a look that said, 'And I'm meant to so that, how?' She smiled to him and turned her attention to the guards at the other end of the room, taking her machine gun off of her back and aiming it at eye level, releasing the safety off it before opening fire. Kurtis jumped over to her, having to use his physic abilities to boost him farther. She strapped the gun onto her back and grabbed her pistols, firing at the other mercenaries gathered about the first two. She walked backwards, slowly at first, but then holstered her weapons, following Kurtis out of the building.

* * *

Lara quickly threw her wet jacket onto the chair as she joined Kurtis and Mason in her bedroom, Kurtis giving Mason the sword fragment. _"It's smaller than I expected." _Alister mused over the webcam of the laptop. "There's three pieces, remember." Kurtis said as he walked over to one of the beds, sitting down on it. "Which makes me ask, any idea where they other pieces are?" Lara asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "_I've found one in Portugal, I'm not sure where the others are. You should enjoy this, Lara. A lovely tomb on the coast of a 'haunted' beach. Right up your alley." _he laughed.

"I think we should get going in a few days. If Karel doesn't know where the second sword is, then we have nothing to worry about." Mason said.

"And if he does know?" Kurtis asked, standing up, "I don't think we should be wasting time. We can fly over to Portugal and rest for a few days there."

Lara shook her head, "No, I agree with Mason. We need a break altogether. We can go back to France, rest at Mason's house and then drive down to Portugal early the next morning."

"Drive down to Portugal?" Morgan asked, just coming out of the bathroom, in her pyjamas.

"We're less likely to get detected by Karel that way. Chances are is that he'll have men swarming every airport available, so it's safer if we drive." Kurtis said. "Looks like we're doing it your way."

"_Now that that's sorted out, do any of you know how it's so easy for Karel to track us down?" _Alister asked, joining into the conversation again.

Kurtis ran a hand threw his hair, "No idea, but I don't want to stick around to find out."

"_Would you like us to send a chopper for you, Lara?"_

"That would be lovely." she smiled.

* * *

**AN: Yeahh, sorry for the lack of content in my chapters, but I'm having to juggle revising for tests that can make or break me when I'm in 3rd year and writing my chapters. It doesn't help that my charger is broken again and that I have to share with my sister...soooo....I don't have a lot of time to write, but the October holidays are here, so I'll have more time!!!**

**See you Wednesday! XD **

* * *


	11. The Watchers walk amongst Men

Those expelled from the Heavens, the Watchers walk amongst Men

**AN: Yes, I'm back (and on time, might I add). Right, I've decided to attach a song to each chapter, so if you could, please listen to the recommended song. Ready for an action packed chapter?! This is where my 95% on my science test comes in handy. Oh, yeah, creepy chapter name, huh? **

_**New Divide ~ Linkin Park

* * *

**_

Lara gripped the overhead bar on the helicopter, swaying forward as it landed on firm ground. Morgan was leant against a wall opposite her, her arms crossed against her chest, and the young girl looked like she would die if she didn't get off of the chopper soon. Lara let go and made her way to the edge of the chopper, waving as she saw Zip and Alister exit Mason's first mansion, them having stayed to get security set up. When the chopper was firmly on the ground, Lara hopped off, taking her backpack and luggage with her, dropping them on the ground to run over to her companions, greeting them with a hug, her plaited hair flowing behind her. "Nice to see you, Lara. All safe and well....alive," Alistair smiled, pulling away from the embrace. "Yeah, but who's dead?" Zip asked sarcastically, earning a nudge on the arm from Lara.

Kurtis walked up to the trio, gathering Lara's discarded luggage. He stood there for a moment while the group exchanged greetings, before moving forward, not wanting to get in their way. He stopped and turned around as Lara grabbed his arm, pulling him back towards them. "Zip, Alister, this is Kurtis Trent. Kurtis, this is Zip and Alister, very good friends of mine."

"Nice to meet you," Kurtis extended his hand to Alister first, and he took it gladly, shaking it thoroughly. He then turned to Zip and did the same, Zip smiling at him in a way that had a 'I-know-something-you-don't-know-and-I'm-going-to-keep-it-that-way' sort of manner. He sighed, running a hand threw his hair, "Are you sure this was the best idea, Lara?" he asked, turning to her. "I'm not saying it is, but I'd prefer to be comfortable when Karel finds us." she sighed.

"Can I remind you who's house this is?" Mason said, walking past the group.

"All I'm saying is that I want to be safe. I want YOU to be safe." he looked at her until she met his gaze. Then, he turned away, walking up to the house, first jogging to catch up with Mason, then walking along with him. Lara sighed, turning to face Morgan who was just getting out of the chopper. "This is Morgan, a Lux member like Kurtis and Mason."

Morgan smiled as she passed the trio, but continued up the path to the house, ready to collapse; it took everything she had to stand on her own two feet. "We've found some information on the sword you may like." Alister smiled. Lara ushered Zip and Alister towards the house, thanking the pilot of the chopper before following after them. She closed the door with a sigh, joining the group by sitting on the couch where everyone was gathered. "So, what have you found?" she asked. She watched as Alister threw a folder on the table and she picked it up, scanning over the information. "There's a replica of the part of the sword you're looking for." he nodded.

"A replica?" she looked up at him.

"Maybe for security reasons?" Kurtis suggested from his position behind the couch, looking over Lara's shoulder at what she was reading. "I'm not sure, but we could use it to our advantage." Alister said, taking the sheets off Lara. "And how, exactly?" Lara asked, looking behind her to Kurtis, before looking back to Alister. "If we have enough time, we could, I mean, _you_ could, find the replica, take the real one and replace it with the fake one, confusing Karel if he catches up to you."

"And if Karel finds us and we have the real one?" Kurtis asked, walking so that he was in sight range of everyone. "Then he takes it and we steal it back." Lara said simply, standing up and walking over to a wall, leaning against it. "We're already ahead of him with the first part of the sword and the shield, and we have the box, whatever relevance that might be. We can simply take it back."

"I wish it was that easy." he sighed, running a hand threw his hair.

"If we try hard enough, we can do it." Mason said, tapping his lip with the tip of his finger. "We just need to trust each other."

"But Karel can shape-shift, remember? Or that's what you told me, anyway." Morgan asked, joining into the conversation. "How can we trust each other if we don't know if it's actually them?"

Images of her dream from weeks ago flashed threw her head, and Lara felt her mouth dry up. _Nightmare, more like_ she thought to herself. "Well, we'll know if you're you, Morgan, no-one can fake your personality." Lara laughed, brushing away her fears. But the rest of them, she wasn't so sure about. "Any idea where the replica is?" she asked, pushing off the wall.

Zip nodded, "In a tourist destination in the middle of Spain somewhere. There's a temple that was ruled and is 'haunted' by the ancient Maya that gathers 2 million tourists a year. Go when it's busy, you can find it and get in and out easily."

"So Spain is our next destination?"

He nodded again, "And then Portugal. A tomb of all places, right up your alley, Lara." he chuckled, "I hear it's lovely this time of year."

"If you push aside the killing, bullets, heavy weaponry, scars, decapitating and fighting for the Human Race; then it's just a holiday, really." she smiled.

"What do we do now?" Alister asked.

"We rest. We'll need all the energy we can get if we're going to do what we need to. It's getting late – we should be getting some rest."

* * *

Lara stared out at the scene of Berwick, Mason's house being located on one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen. Oh, she had seen many gorgeous spots in the world, but the fact that something so beautiful was right here, practically on her doorstep made her smile. She had travelled around the world, seen beautiful temples in places such as Bolivia and Alexandria, ancient ruins in Peru and quiet jungles in India soon to turn disturbed in her life, but she never accepted that where she lived might just be acceptable for her. But she was never one to not be moving. She enjoyed raiding temples, thrilled in discovering ruins and wasn't afraid to boast that it was her who disturbed the silence in some places that weren't meant to be discovered.

A small river flowed just past the mansion, the banks covered with reeds that weren't too short, but not too long at the same time. A field was on either side, a path framed by trees leading up to a farm. The place was so quiet, so peaceful, that Lara felt she could just stay there forever.

She was snapped back to Earth when she heard a knock on her door and she watched as Kurtis entered, walking over to join her on the balcony. He leaned against the railings as Lara turned to face him, "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he asked, smiling at the rare view in front of him. "You rarely see something so peaceful without it being destroyed in a matter of minuets." he smiled. "True – but for how long will it stay like this?" she asked, turning back to face the scenery.

"I know you're scared, Lara; we all are."

"I'm not scared, I just don't want to think about what we're up against." she sighed, bowing her head.

"We'll be fine. Whatever way this goes, we would have done something to help stop Karel," he turned around so his back was now leaning against the railing of the balcony.

"But that's what worries me. What if we're fine because he's one of us? You know what he's capable of, what if he's been the most camouflaged of people in the places we've been, and worse yet, what if he changes into one of us?" she played with the bottom of her traditional braid, plaiting the ends of it. Her mind flashed images in her head, playing the events of her dream over and over again, making her feel on the verge of unconsciousness. It wasn't as if these were simple memories; it was like they were put there as a means of attack. She finally let her mind wonder to the possibilities of this nightmare; after all, it was Karel who planted them there in the first place. What if this wasn't a simple dream – what if it was something that was going to happen? Everyone has dreams that haunt them, but no-one has had them planted there. It was as if the nightmare was like a first stage of combat, trying to weaken her for the actual assault. But this confused her; if the dream was as simple as it was – a nightmare – then how was it so vivid to her? It was like the images in her mind _actually _happened – they were so clear.

But it wasn't the fact that the dream contained her being chased by who could be the most dangerous being that ever was, it wasn't the fact that if this came true, she could only have a matter of hours to live and it wasn't the fact that Karel had managed to track them down. It was the fact that he had changed his appearance to that of Kurtis'. If that happened, she would most definitely be dead. She could never harm something with Kurtis' features, never. And even though it wasn't him, Karel still bore the attractive features of his face, the stubble around his chin and his dark, azure eyes. But there was only one thing different about that appearance of Kurtis. Karel's version of Kurtis didn't hold anywhere near the amount of light in his eyes. Even though they were a dark colour of blue, there was always something deep within them, that stuck out to Lara. For her, it wasn't his cocky attitude that said "I'm a cocky bastard, but you'll just love me,", it wasn't his dark, close to black hair colour and it wasn't his masculine figure and scent that struck her as Kurtis being Kurtis. For Lara, it was his eyes. There was something about them that showed such happiness even when he was in the most depressing of moods, something was always shining in them. And if that light ever went out, she would never be able to forgive herself.

"I just can't face the fact that we might be up against something I can't control. The feeling of knowing I can't do anything to help but find those artefact's isn't enough for me. I'm expandable, and I don't like that feeling. I have nothing to do with the Lux Veritatis and I know I can't do anything in the stronghold – wherever the hell that is. I just hate being expandable!" she balled a fist but quickly calmed herself down, resting her head in her hands, "I can't do anything to finish the war your father and Karel started. I can't have anything to do with it and I can't control it. But saying that is saying that I have no control over my death. I don't believe in fate and I _can _control my future depending on the steps I take in my life." she looked up at him, "But this wipes away all of my courage. What if I was meant to die fighting for _you. _Maybe I'm expandable for a reason." she sighed.

"Will you stop talking like that! Stop putting yourself down, Lara. You're not expandable. Don't you dare call yourself that. You're no where near expandable – not to me. You may not be needed in the war, but I need you. I don't believe in fate, either, but we met each other again. You can't give into his little mind-fucks, Lara. If you do, he would have won." he stroked her cheek softly, but when he realised what he was doing, he snatched it back, putting it down beside him. He turned back to the beautiful scenery, taking advantage of the most peace he might get in, well....ever. He didn't know if this battle was going to be his last, but he was damn sure it would be a fight worth dying for. He breathed in the fresh English air, closing his eyes as he exhaled, just relaxing for all the time he could.

A loud scream came from downstairs and he snapped his eyes open, looking at Lara in a confused manner, before dashing out of the balcony and out into the hall. Lara ran to the end of the hall, Kurtis close behind her and she looked over the balcony, gasping at what she saw. Morgan had decided to rest on the couch that night after watching television for several hours, and the teen had fallen asleep happily while the others of the group did their own things. She had brought a small blanket down from her room and had rested her eyes without a worry. She was now lying on her back, three streak marks on her back, seeping threw her t-shirt; blood. Lara could see the pain in the girls eyes and she quickly sprinted down the stairs, kneeling down beside her. Her eyes gazed over the blood stained shirt, and she widened them as she realised how deep they actually were; the red liquid making it's way from her body to the shirt in great amounts in a matter of seconds. "My God," Kurtis breathed, standing beside her.

"You need to get a first-aid kit." Lara ordered Kurtis. She turned back to Morgan, who was now trying to sit up. Lara grabbed her arms and steadied her, guiding her to a comfortable position on the couch. She stood up, making her way behind the arm rest and she peeled the back of Morgan's top up so she could see the damage. "What happened, Morgan?" she asked, taking the first-aid kit Kurtis handed her. Kurtis walked around and sat on the sofa beside Morgan, seeing if there was any more damage. "I don't know, I was sleeping-" she hissed as the antibiotic came in touch with her skin and tears began to swell up in her eyes. "I think Karel had something to do with it." she sighed.

"Karel?" Lara asked, tying the knot in the bandage she had covered Morgan's wounds with. "I had a..._vision_ of him, coming here. He was just...._there_. I wasn't dreaming anything, but he was just in my _mind_ without me knowing it." the tears from her eyes began to glide down her cheeks. Kurtis quickly wiped them away as Mason, Zip and Alister came rushing into the room, coming to see what the noise was about. "What happened?" Mason asked, gripping a pistol in his shoulder holster.

"I don't think we're safe any more." Kurtis said, taking his Chirugai off his belt. "I think Karel has found us." he watched as Lara wondered over to the front of the hall, resting her ear against the bricks of the wall. "Lara?" Kurtis asked, speaking for everyone else. Her eyes widened as she found what she was hoping wasn't there, "Get down!" she screamed, beginning to sprint forward. Before she could make it to a safe spot, everything at the front of the room exploded, forcing Lara to fly forward, landing roughly on the floor, "Lara!" Kurtis rushed over to her side, covering his mouth as ash and dust covered the mansion. He looked behind him at Morgan who was standing still in shock, staring at the sight in front of her. Kurtis helped Lara up, wrapping his arm around her unconscious body, lifting her into his arms, "Morgan, come on!" he waited until Morgan followed the rest of the group, making her way to the back of the house before he followed.

By the time he exited the house, his lungs were burning and his face was covered in ash. He set Lara on the ground after he re-joined the group and sighed as he had to perform moth-to-mouth. After what seemed like hours, and when he was about to give up, her eyes jolted open and she coughed up the dust that had gotten into her lungs. She stood up, covering her mouth as she continued to cough and looked back at Mason's manor. Mason sighed, running a hand threw his hair. "I had all my best equipment in there!" Zip screamed, kicking a rock on the ground, "That's the least of our problems right now." Alister said. They all stood in silence, watching the flames make the house crumble. "Which way is the quickest escape route?" Lara asked, turning back to the group. Morgan was sat on the ground, holding her burn from days before. "What escape route?" Kurtis asked. "I want Zip and Alister back in Surrey." she said, tightening her holsters at her thighs.

"We're not going to leave you, Lara." Zip said, in a lower, darker voice than what she had ever heard him speak in. "No, I want you back home. You can research for any information about the artefact's. Mason, Kurtis, Morgan and I will stay. We are the only people that know what Karel's like." she sighed, taking her pistol's out and loading fresh clips into them. "There's a dock just around the corner," Mason said, "I have a garage there, there should be a car that'll have everything you need to get to Surrey as soon as possible." he handed them a key and watched Zip walk away. Alister sighed, nodding before following after his companion.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Kurtis asked, clipping his Chirugai back on his belt. "We make sure Karel doesn't get the sword fragment." she sighed, beginning to walk forward. "My best guess is that it was him that caused the explosion, and he'll be looking for us. We need to get away from here." she turned back around, looking over the group, "It sounds like our only option." Kurtis said, walking up to her. "If we can make it to the docks, we can take one of my cars and drive to Surrey." Mason said, walking ahead of the group. "You do realise we're just running?" Morgan said, catching up to them. "If running keeps us alive, then that's what we'll do." Lara said, looking back at the house as a figure emerged from the house. "But we need to run fast." she jogged forward, heading in the direction of a group of alleyways.

Morgan gasped as she looked back to see a large group of people exit the house, and she increased her speed so that she caught up with her peers. "They're coming." she warned, walking by Lara's side. She looked around her as they entered an alleyway, the stone walls reflecting the water of the sea they were near, "Where are we going?" she asked as they exited it. A dock surrounded them, garages covering some walls, warehouses covering others. Boats were in the sea water, bobbing up and down on the surface. As they walked forward, they came closer to an abandoned car. "Stay here." Mason said, going into one of the garages.

Lara tapped her foot impatiently on the ground, "Are you feeling OK?" she asked Morgan, the fact that the teen had been running with holes in her back finally hitting her. "They just sting a little." she sighed. "You're a brave girl, Morgan. I wish I was like you when I was-"

"Miss Croft!" she heard someone shout behind her, turning around to see Karel and his 'buddies' emerging from the alleyway, standing in front of a warehouse. "I believe you have something we need."

"Oh, really, I wonder what that could be." she crossed her arms, pretending to be in deep thought. "You're not a fool, Lara. You know what I want and you know I shall get it." he stalked forward, leaving a smaller space between Morgan, Lara and Kurtis. "We don't have what you need." Morgan sighed. "Nobody asked for your opinion." he dismissed her, quickly. Morgan fell to the floor, the blood from her cuts rapidly progressing threw her blue t-shirt, making her scream in pain. Kurtis looked over to Karel, who was smiling smugly at the sight that he was causing. Anger fuelled him, and Kurtis quickly grabbed his Chirugai, throwing it in the air, heading towards a guard, who's head was quickly cut clean off his neck. "Leave her!" he screamed, picking Morgan up.

"Why is it that you need the sword, Karel?" Lara asked, taking a step back so that she closed the space between her, Morgan and Kurtis. "Is it not clear? I shall bring about the new age of Nephilim and they will roam the Earth, picking off your helpless little species one by one."

"But what does the sword and shield have to do with this?"

"They are the only things that can destroy my kind, now that the Periapt shards are gone. They are also the key to my success, but you happen to be missing one small thing." he stepped forward a few paces, making Lara's heart race.

"And that would be?"

"The Bamburugh Beast. A very, very small artefact which has the same power as that of God." Lara watched as he left his group of mercenaries, walking towards them. She quickly jogged away, pushing Kurtis and Morgan with her. There was only a short distance between them and Karel, and that space was closing too fast for her liking. "Get that hose." she said to Kurtis, sprinting over to the car and crawling under it, then lying on her back, looking for an element that could possibly be the thing that could save their life at this time.

She heard Karel laugh as she came out, holding pieces of pink and silver rocks in her hands. "I must say, I have never seem someone do that in a time of need."

Lara smirked as she watched Kurtis pour a line of water on the ground, just in front of them and a few feet away from Karel. Lara walked forward, so her feet were just on the edge of the line of water, as she continued to talk to Karel. "Join my Empire, Lara. Join the Cabal, and leave people like them to fend for themselves." he stood in front of her, nodding his head towards Morgan and Kurtis. "Those expelled from Heaven, the Watchers walk amongst Men."

"Join you? I'd rather be scum." she spat, jumping back and throwing the element on the ground, making a chemical reaction occur, fire exploding from the ground. She stepped back as she watched Karel back away from the line of fire, before slowly, very slowly, walking towards it. "Make the fire bigger!" she shouted to Morgan, who was now standing by her side, Kurtis behind them, training his gun on anything that could make it's way threw the blaze. "What?" Morgan asked, staring at Lara as if she had spoken in another language. "Potassium reacts with water. Make the flames grow." she screamed.

"I can't, what if they backfire? I can't control it, Lara, what if it goes wrong?"

"Morgan, you either make them bigger, or we die!" she stepped back, pulling Morgan with her. She heard Morgan sigh and the flames suddenly grew, combining violently with the power from Morgan's mind, making the flames spread to other places on the ground. Lara smiled at Morgan, before her face dropped as she watched a figure walked threw. Karel stood before them, his cocky smile haunting Lara. She backed away as a car drove out of the garage, stopping just behind Kurtis. "Lara, let's go!" Kurtis ordered her, getting into the car after Morgan. She shook her head, "Go, I'll catch up. Get Morgan to safety."

Kurtis stared at her for a moment before he finally got into the car, slamming the door shut behind him. Mason rolled the window down, "Good luck, Lara." he nodded before he finally drove away, leaving Lara to fight their battle; alone. She turned around, seeing Karel coming rapidly closer to her before she un-holstered her pistols. "Those expelled from Heaven, the Watchers walk amongst Men. Over my dead body."she began to fire, backing away from the scene, heading in the direction of a group of alleys.

* * *

Kurtis stared out of the wind shield of Mason's car, looking up at the mirror every so often to check on Morgan. She was staring out of her own window, tapping her fingers in time with the rain that poured down from the sky. Why did he leave Lara there? He should have stayed to help her; there was no way she could survive an attack from Karel by herself. Mason looked over at him, sighing as he turned his attention back to the road, "I'm sorry, Kurtis."

"Sorry for what?" he said in his low, yet light voice.

"I'm sorry for Lara. I know you feel something for her, and I'm sorry it had to end like that." he sighed, moving into a new lane on a dual carriageway. "It's not your fault." he said. As much as it hurt him to admit it, he knew that when he saw Lara, cuts covering her face, rain pouring down on her auburn hair, that might have been the last time he _ever_ saw her. He wanted to run up to her, take her into his arms and force her into the car, not letting her be the hero in the story. He would have stayed, but that could have ruined everything. Lara kept saying how she was expandable, but she wasn't. She wasn't expandable; not to him.

"Stop the car." he said, making Mason and Morgan look at him. "I'm going back to help, stop the car."

Morgan's eyes grew, as well as Mason's. "Are you sure, Kurtis?" he asked, pulling over at a pavement. "I can't let her go. Not without knowing that I could have done something." he got out of the car, turning back to where a blaze was visible. He wasn't going to let Lara go without fighting with her.

* * *

Lara gasped for breath as another blow came to her back. She quickly pushed the pain aside and continued to sprint down the endless alley's. She could see the green lights on the walls either side of her and now, was the time she had doubted her decisions. She doubted her decisions for doubting him, if that was even possible. An orb of energy flew around to her front, hitting her square on the face.

Her skin burned as she stumbled backwards, falling onto her back. She looked up as the dark shadow of the figure strolled casually towards her, holding green orbs of energy about his hands effortlessly. His long coat flowed behind him as he stopped, a few feet away from her. She was tired. Too tired. All she wanted to do was to curl up into a ball and crawl into a corner, almost seizing to exist. She couldn't fight any more. She was so tired. But she had to fight. Giving up would mean death.

She got back up and ran as fast as she could, barley being able to see where she was going from the burning fire in her eyes. Her stomach dropped as she faced a wall. A dead end. No way out. The only way out was back. And going back certainly wouldn't mean getting out. If anything, it meant choosing a slow, horrible death. She gulped and turned around, gripping the pistols at her thighs on top of her jeans. She withdrew them and aimed them at the figure, knowing her final moments had come. Bullets couldn't do anything. But she couldn't give up. She could at least distract him with pain. But that would only last a couple of seconds. No weapons she had could harm him - or it rather.

His appearance changed before her and she found tears swelling up in her eyes. She hated him - even more, if that was possible - for changing into that appearance. She couldn't fight him. No matter how much her brain willed her to, her heart would never let her harm him. But she needed to. It wasn't him."Change back!" she screamed as she took the safety off of her guns.

"Change back!" she could never fight him while in this form. Not while he had those piercing blue eyes and raven black hair. Never.

All she knew was that her nightmare was coming true.

_And your voice was all I heard  
Did I get what I deserve?_

_~Linkin Park - New Divide~_

* * *

**AN: You all know how I love cliffhangers, don't you? OK, brownie points to anyone that can tell me which line I used from the start of AOD. Nobody says it, it's written as a quotation, something about Nephili. Give it a guess! I'll give you a clue, watch the official trailer for AOD. I also used the dream from the first chapter, so that's why the last bit sounds so familiar :D CRAZYMARTIANFIGHTER: PUT THE KNIFE AWAY!!!! lol**

**See you on Friday!**


	12. The Scientist

The Scientist

**AN: Big surprise for you in this chapter, I can tell you that! **

_**Call me by Shinedown....some of the lyrics go, anyway**_

* * *

Kurtis rushed past the warehouses, searching each one for any sign of Lara and Karel. He had past the place where the fire had now burned out, and was just about to move onto searching Mason's mansion before he heard a scream coming from an alleyway. He dashed towards it, hoping to God that it was Karel screaming and not Lara. When he came to the first of the alleyway's; everything was silent, his breathing the only thing he could hear. He hugged the wall as he rounded a corner, sighing in frustration as he found nothing.

He jogged forwards, looking for any sign of life. "C'mon Lara." he groaned. "Where are you?" he ran a hand threw his hair, and gripped his gun as he saw two shadows around the corner from him. The smaller of the two were standing at the end of the alley, their arms being held in the air. The bigger figure, who was closer to Kurtis, had some sort of light around his hands, and was beginning to lift them into the air. Kurtis stealthed around the corner, holding his gun up, almost dropping it at the sight he saw. Lara was standing in front of a wall, blood decorating her hands, her face burned just on her temple and she was covered in dirt. When he turned his gaze to Karel, however, he didn't have a mark on him. _The lovely advantages of being immortal, _he thought sarcastically. He stood behind Karel, enough so that Lara could see him, but enough so that neither him or his shadow could be detected by Karel. But how was he supposed to stop Karel? If he shot him, he would only turn attention to himself, and that wouldn't be able to do anything; that couldn't get them out of the alley. And the only way to get Lara out was for her to walk past Karel – something that couldn't be done easily.

He watched as Karel strolled towards her, forcing her to look up at him by grabbing her face roughly in one hand, making her lips pout out. "Where is the sword fragment?" he asked, putting his face close to hers. "I don't have it." she spat, snatching her face away from his hands. "If you won't tell me willingly, I'll have to get the information myself."

"Go on." she challenged, "Does it make you feel stronger because you look like Kurtis? Does it make you think I'll give in and let you hurt him or me? Go on, do it."

"You're a strong woman, Lara. A very strong woman – both physically and mentally – and would make an excellent queen for my empire. Join the Cabal, Miss Croft, I'll only offer it one more time."

"I'd rather be road kill."

"Very well." he lifted a hand to her.

"You're not going to touch her." Kurtis said, finally having enough of standing in the shadows, watching Karel hurt Lara. He gasped as he saw Karel's appearance; a mirror image of his own."And I suppose you're going to try and stop me?" he laughed, turning back to his original form. "I want my information, Kurtis, and I'm going to get it." he turned back around, focusing his attention on Lara – or so Kurtis thought. In synchronisation, they both fell to the ground, screaming as loud as their lungs would allow them to.

Lara's lungs heaved in air, only for them to burn as the oxygen was released as a scream. She felt a presence in her mind, flying threw the memories of her entire life. Her eyes shot open and she fell to the floor on her back, trying to get the thing that was causing her so much pain to stop. "Stop!" she screamed, but then just focused on trying to take some of her harm away by screaming like she had never screamed before.

Kurtis fell onto his back, his breathing heavy, letting out a scream of agony every few seconds. Something was in his head – something that wasn't supposed to be there. His entire life flashed before his eyes as his eyes shot open. The alienating pain was going to be too much for him, and if he didn't get the unknown presence out of his mind soon, he would succumb to that pain. He stared up as part of the outside world was given back to him, and saw Lara on her back, shooting up on her knees, screaming with the same amount of energy as himself. Then he realised who was in his mind. He looked up to Karel, who had his eyes closed, one hand outstretched towards him, the other towards Lara. He could feel Karel searching threw his head, trying to find whatever information he wanted.

He watched as closer memories became remembered, Karel lingering on one during the events in the Stronghold – when Kurtis was fighting for his life. Desperate to stop him, he tried anything to stop him, _find all solutions of cos8k = 1/4_ was the first thing that popped into his head, remembering some maths he had done in his early years of secondary school. He fell flat onto his front as the presence left his mind. He looked up as Lara arched her back forward, her eyes swamped with tears, silently begging him to relieve her of her pain. _Kurtis,_ he heard her in his mind, bringing the link that was between them bigger. He stood up, spiting on the ground before un-holstering his gun, lifting his Chirugai off his belt, standing in a fighting stance, "Leave her, take the information from me." he sighed, glaring at Karel as if he were nothing bigger than scum. Of course – Karel _was_ smaller than scum. He watched as Lara collapsed fully to the ground, no longer screaming. If he was honest, he was thinking the worst. Karel turned to him, a smug grin growing on his face. "I have all the information I need." his hand lit up with the now familiar green energy, almost hypnotising Kurtis. He quickly shot a bolt of energy in Lara's direction, but Kurtis managed to steer it back to Karel before it hit her.

He slowly circled Karel, stopping as his back was faced to Lara. He trained his gun at Karel as he recovered from the impact of the energy bolt. Kurtis slowly backed towards her, keeping the Boran X trained at Karel. He crouched down beside Lara, checking for a pulse, sighing with relief as he found one. He stood back up as Karel stood before him, all his pain seizing to exist. Kurtis was suddenly forced away from Lara, the wind being knocked out of him as his body was forced up against the wall, "Such foolish traditions your kind have." Karel chuckled harshly, beginning to walk forward. "The male of you kind always trying to protect the woman he loves. Love is a pointless emotion, Kurtis. Especially loving someone like Lara." he dropped Kurtis to the ground, "You don't know anything about love, Karel. Nothing as worthless and heartless as you could ever love. It may be weak to you, but when I look at her, she makes me stronger. Love is more powerful than anything you could ever control or become." he smiled as someone else entered the alleyway. Whether this person was a threat or not; Kurtis wasn't sure, but he could possibly use it to his advantage.

"Love and any other emotion is irrelevant. It will be the death of your race." Karel laughed. "And she will be the first to die." he threw a quick bolt of green energy in Lara's direction. Her body shot upwards, her eyes opening for a brief second before she fell motionless to the ground, her breathing softer than what it had been before. Kurtis didn't know what he could do – it wasn't as if it was easy to harm an immortal being. Anything he did would only slow Karel down, but if he didn't try to stop him soon, he wasn't sure whether him _or_ Lara would make it out of that place alive. "Stop, Karel!" he heard the stranger shout farther up the alley, and sighed with relief as Mason came from the shadows. "This is not Lara's battle. You should be wise to leave her out of it."

Karel turned his attention way from Kurtis and Lara, laughing at Mason's comment. "Mason DeComble – I must say, the last time I saw you; you were just a boy. How have you been coping after your fathers death?" he laughed hollowly.

Mason clenched his teeth, but kept business straight, "Don't mention him. We know what you want. We know _who_ you want – and you are not going to get them. Leave Lara out of this, this is not her fight to be lost."

"If it is not her battle, then why is she fighting your war?"

Kurtis crawled over to Lara, pulling her up to him in his arms. He wiped away the stray hairs that lay on her forehead, pressing two fingers to her neck, checking for a pulse, _C'mon, Lara. Stay with me,_ he thought, sighing with relief when he found as faint pulse. He wiped the sweat away from her forehead, holding her closer to him and he never wanted to let go. Why had he let her go ahead and fight Karel in the first place? What he was really letting her do was have an early death. Never – never again was she doing something so idiotic without him. He watched Mason circle Karel, finally stopping just in front of him and Lara. "We'll give you what you need." he said, throwing Karel the first part of the sword.

"What the HELL are you doing?" Kurtis shouted, standing up with Lara in his arms, gently holding her, but with a tight grip so that she wasn't going anywhere soon. "If we give you what you want; we're equal. We leave it at this until Cappadocia."

"I'm a man of my word, Mr DeComble, but you should know, I will get the rest of the pieces and you shall deeply regret your choice." he sighed, pocketing the sword before walking away. "Mason, please do not tell me you actually think that what you did is helping us?!" Kurtis screamed, staring in shock at his fellow Lux Knight.

"You didn't have any better ideas, did you Kurtis?! They took Morgan, Kurtis. Gunderson took her, and we have no way of finding her. That agreement with Karel might have just saved her life. You should realise that it should be you looking out for Morgan and not me." he said.

"How could you let them take her?" he said, hushing his tone.

"We can track her down, surely. We'll have plenty of run-ins with Karel for that, I just gave him one piece of the puzzle." he began to walk away, leaving Kurtis to control his anger. He quickly caught up to Mason and followed him towards his car. He sighed as Mason opened the door to the back seat and Kurtis lent in, slowly placing Lara down on the three seats horizontally. He got in afterwards, sitting on the floor of the car, watching over Lara in case she suddenly woke up. Mason put his seatbelt on, switching the engine on before he quickly swerving around in the opposite direction before driving off, heading in the quickest direction of Surrey.

Kurtis stroked Lara's cheek, looking at her unconscious form. "I'm so sorry, Lara." he whispered, taking in the cuts and bruises on her body. "I should have never brought you into this." he looked up and out of the window, finding Mason practically on the verge of tears. "What did you mean about Cappadocia?" he asked, climbing into the passenger seat of the car. Mason sighed, "Alister found some information that can link the Nephilim Stronghold to Cappadocia. That's where the Hebrew legend says they were sent to; only to escape when someone powerful – or psychotic – enough can set them free."

Kurtis sighed, "We're going all over the place." he glanced back at Lara. "We better be quick; I want her safe and I want to find Morgan as soon as possible."

* * *

Lara shot bolt upright in the bed, gasping for breath as she wiped the sweat off her forehead. She grabbed her abdomen and looked down at her hand, only to see a bandage dressing it. Her head was swarming with both pain and emotion, the recent events of the day just a blur in her mind. She felt like she should throw up, which actually sounded like a _good_ thing to do at that moment – she felt like someone had just lifted her out of a rubbish bin and thrown her into a skip. _That _awful.

She flung her legs over the side of the bed, sitting up only to groan, lying back down. She lay down vertically, staring up at the patterns of the library ceiling. _Wait, library?_ She shot back up, much to her body's protest. Looking around, she found herself in _her _Manor's library, gazing over the precious and priceless books she owned. And the bed she was lying on was nothing more than the settee. How did she get there? The last thing she remembered, she was facing her death. _Karel, definitely remember him.....in some sort of alley....and then Kurtis._ She gasped as she remembered more clearly than before, the fact that Karel had invaded her mind sticking out like a sore thumb. He was there, heck, that was the part she remembered the most, but something strange happened....something she couldn't put her finger on.......

She looked over to the door as someone knocked, before seeing Kurtis enter. She stood up, trying to suggest that there was nothing wrong with her; that she still came out on top after her fight. But her body had other ideas. Her legs suddenly turned to jelly, and she soon found herself falling, only for Kurtis to catch her. "Hey, take it easy, you took some beating back there." he smiled, seating her down on the couch. She sighed, laying down and leaning her head on the arm rest of the sofa. "What happened?" she asked, looking up at Kurtis who was sat next to her, Lara's knees bent, her feet resting just beside his lap. "I thought you would have remembered." he ran a hand threw his hair, giving it more of the familiar messy, sexy edge that Lara always loved about it.

"He hurt you, Lara. He hurt both of us. He was _in_ us. In our minds, in our heads, messing up and screwing over any little happy memory that was ever there." his expression suddenly darkened, and he roughly shoved Lara's legs away from him and stood up, beginning to pace the room. "What do you mean?" Lara asked, also standing up, holding her abdomen as her body screamed out for rest.

"He invaded our minds and got what he wanted because we gave up. He was killing us, both physically and mentally. We got out just in time." he suddenly became angry, throwing books off of Lara's bookcases and punching a wall, almost making his knuckle crack. Lara stared at him, almost frightened by the anger this man was showing; she had never seen him like this before. He leaned his head against the wall, his breathing heavy and chocked, as if he had just run a marathon. "Mason gave Karel the sword."

"He did what?" she asked, now becoming more alarmed.

"We screwed over, and Mason let Karel take it. Karel didn't just take it, Lara; he was given it. Mason _gave_ Karel the sword fragment." he sighed, turning around so that he was now facing her.

"Why would Mason give him the sword fragment? He knows that is jeopardizing what we're trying to do!"

"How the hell should I know!" he sighed, bowing is head. "We screwed up, Lara, big time." he felt so guilty. How could he let the one person that was important to him get hurt? And better yet, Mason wasn't helping. If he was really on their side, then why had he given Karel the sword? To Kurtis, that just sounded like Mason was asking for everything to go spiralling out of control. As if he was _actually_ asking for the Human Race to become extinct. It was down to the four of them to stop Karel, but they had one hell of a journey ahead of them if they wanted to do so. Mason hadn't helped that fact. And neither was the fact that they had lost Morgan. "He could have just given him it to make us even. I would have done the same – and I'm sure you would have. Mason isn't an idiot, he would have had a good reason for giving something so valuable away. But this isn't what's bothering you, is it? What else is their to be angry about? I almost died, you don't see me moping around like some lifeless thrall!" she screamed, having enough of Kurtis' attitude. "Mason knows what we're doing, just as much as you and I do. I'm not taking sides, Kurtis, but I think you need to stop throwing your dummy out of the pram every time something small turns up!"

"Small? Small?! You're saying that because of you, Mason could have endangered the entire Human Race is something small!"

"Because of me?! What did I do, or am I just something you can blame because you don't see your cuddly toys about? Grow up, Kurtis. Stop acting like a child and take some responsibility for yourself. You know what; I think Mason did the right thing. I don't remember you trying to do anything to stop Karel."

"I wasn't doing anything to stop him because I was busting my ass to keep you alive! You were unconscious and I was partially demented because of Karel's 'fun games'. I saved your ass, Lara. The least you could do is act like you care."

"Act like I care?! Kurtis, you're the one who causes an argument every five minuets when we're alone! Not me. You won't let me get close to you! God, why are you so difficult to talk to? You know what I think you should do. I think you should go get drunk; have a hangover tomorrow morning so you know what it's like to live with you." she turned around and lifted her blanket that had been resting on the arm rest of the couch and walked towards the door, not wanting to be given a headache because of the slug that was Kurtis at this moment.

"We've lost Morgan." he sighed, sitting down in a close-by armchair, resting his head in his hands. Lara quickly spun on her heels, staring at Kurtis like she didn't believe what he just said. "What do you mean you've lost her?"

"Gunderson attacked them on their way here. He knocked Mason out and took Morgan." he looked up at her before hitting the arm rest, standing back up. "We need to get her back as soon as possible. If Karel finds out that she is of any importance in this – that's it. He'll use her and then get rid of her. Morgan spoke to me like a sister, Kurtis. She knows she's important and she knows that she's in danger." she sighed.

"Do you not think I already worked that out? Morgan is INCREDIBLY important in this war, Lara. In fact, she's just about as important as me. There's so much I haven't told you about her. Her smile when she was a kid, her energetic personality, her everything. Believe it or not, Morgan was a nice person a few years back. But I didn't stick around to find that out." he sighed.

"We'll get her back, Kurtis. We can't let Karel win. It's just something simple. We've came up against things like this before, so it won't be that different! You're really starting to piss me off with this. If we sit tight for long enough, then we might find a way to locate her."

"But we can't just wait! If we want to get her back, we need to go find her now! Before Karel tells her something that she shouldn't be told by him. I've been so stupid. I should have told her to not get involved while I could have; but it's too late. It's my fault that she's in this mess."

"What is it with you and Morgan?! One minuet you can't stand her, the next you're acting all over-protective of her! We all know we need to get her back, Kurtis. But why is it that you insist that we make it our prime objective? Why is it that because she's went missing, everything else has been wiped from your mind?!"

"Because she's my sister!"

* * *

**AN: Bet you didn't see THAT coming!!!! I'll update on Monday**


	13. Blood relatives

Blood relatives

**AN: Sorry for the late update peppulz!!! I'll make it up to you!**

Lara stared at Kurtis in disbelief. Was she hearing right? Did Kurtis actually say what she thought he said? She looked around the room, not wanting to make eye contact with him. She sighed several times before her eyes met his, and she gazed there, wide eyed. Morgan was Kurtis' sister? How could he not have told her this? Something so important and he never even suggested they knew each other in any way – let alone even related to each other. How could he not tell her something as important as this? "What?" she looked at him, gazing deep into his eyes, her own wide with shock.

He sighed, turning away from her and walking over to the couch, making her turn 'round to face him, "Morgan is my younger sister."

"And you thought of telling someone this....when?" she crossed her arms against her chest, nodding for him to tell her everything that she wanted to know. "I couldn't tell someone without realising what I had done. Mason already knows, and that seemed like enough to do what we needed to do. But I had to tell you."

"So you leave it until Morgan goes missing? I've had my fair share of bombshells, believe me, but at least I admitted the truth."

"Who's saying I didn't admit the truth? Whenever I look at her, I only see my mother. My _dead_ mother. That, more than anything else, is what makes me realise she's my sister."he stood up to face Lara. "I'm sorry, Kurtis, you're obviously still trying to get your head around this, but unless I know what happened, I can't give you any sympathy." she put a hand on his shoulder, looking him straight in the eye, trying to get him to explain what was going on.

He brushed her hand away from him, sighing again, "I left her when she was a child. I was only nineteen, I didn't know how to take full responsibility for a baby." he sat back down again, resting his head in his hands. "My mother and father were off doing whatever the hell they were doing, and I was left looking after my baby sister."

"If you weren't capable of caring for her; then why did your parents leave Morgan in your care?"

"How the hell should I know? I didn't ask to look after her!"

"Nobody asks for something like that to happen to them. What happened, though?" if she admitted the truth to herself, Lara was getting a little fed up with Kurtis giving her simple answers. He left that girl – who was now in her early teens – and went off to do whatever the hell he did, but he must have had a good reason. A reason, that if Lara didn't press for straight away, she wasn't going to get. She sat down next to him, putting her hand back on his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze, trying to reassure him that things were going to be okay. At least, she hoped they were. She couldn't promise anything; not from their current position. They were sitting ducks, Morgan was missing, Karel had the first part of the sword, and, if it was any relevance, the Bamburugh Beast. They had no idea whatsoever on how to get even close to discovering where Gunderson had taken Morgan and they still couldn't move onto Spain without having Morgan to keep safe. And even then, she still wouldn't be safe. Karel was hunting them down, like dogs chasing foxes for sport, and if he knew what importance Morgan was in any of this; he would most likely 'dispose' of her. Even when Morgan had someone like Kurtis Trent as a brother, that couldn't save her. And even when she had someone like Lara Croft looking out for her, like an older sister. But Lara could still change what the future held for them all. She just needed to get straight to business, putting all other thoughts at the back of her mind. Except one.

"It was in the middle of the war. My father had given up trying to run with us all, so he put my mother, Morgan and I into one of his 'safe houses' to make sure we didn't get harmed. When Morgan was one, my mother left to join him; not in the actual war, just trying to create a diversion away from me and Morgan." he looked up again, clearly finding it difficult to replay the events through his head. Lara gave him a grateful smile, and nodded for him to continue. "I had to take full responsibility for her; I was like more than a brother to her. While my father was fighting, and my mother was trying to lure them away from us, I had to look after my baby sister; _and_ fend off any of the Cabal that actually managed to find us."

"Then how did she end up where she is now?" Lara asked, not trying to make him feel bad, just trying to do what an archaeologist did; dig up the past.

"I did what any teenager in that position would most likely do; rebel. I'm not proud of it, but I left her where she was safer; with Mason's family. A few years later, I heard my mother had passed away, and I juggled the decision of going back to look after Morgan, but I just couldn't. I was waist deep in my own crap – something that I was meant to call my life – I had business with people that weren't meant to be messed with, I couldn't bring a kid into that."

"So you left Morgan wondering who that fun, intelligent, handsome, fantastic man was? A little girl thinking back to her past, who instead of seeing 'mummy or daddy', saw a man that she had no clue who he was. You _were_ one of the first people she ever loved. You were the one person that ever truly showed her love, but you let that go and left it unrecognised when you left to rebel. What was it? Fight in the Foreign Legion? You'd rather fight for someone else's country than the war between the Cabal and the Lux Knights? And then go off and join a mercenary recruitment? Whatever happened, Kurtis, must have hurt you bad." she sighed, releasing her grip on his shoulder and standing up, making her way over to the library desk, leaning her back on it, still facing Kurtis.

"They didn't screw me up, I just didn't want to follow my roots. Perhaps I regret it now, but the matter of the fact is, I would _still _do it again and again if I had the chance. Morgan being stuck with me, not knowing her mother and father wasn't a proper life for a baby. I left her in Mason's care, and he happily took responsibility for her."

"By the sounds of it, you didn't leave her with Mason, you _dumped _her on Mason, to go away and cause chaos wherever you went." she crossed her arms against her chest.

"That's the whole point. If I hadn't left Morgan, she would have gotten killed. She wasn't safe with any of her true family members. My father was fighting in the war, my mother was hiding, and I was getting hunted down. They didn't call me the Demon Hunter for nothing."

"I don't doubt it." Lara muttered under her breath. "How old were you when you left Morgan?"

"I left to join the Legion when I was nineteen, she was only two."

"What if she does remember you?"

He looked up at her this time, "What?"

"Well, I have memories from when I was two, and how could someone ever forget you?" she smiled, trying her hardest to make Kurtis smile. "I wish I could forget me." he chuckled, and Lara sighed, feeling that she had at least done _something _to make him not feel so bad on himself. "But now that Karel's got her, I feel like it's _my_ fault. That if I hadn't left her all those years ago, she might still be safe."

Lara shook her head, "No. You can't blame yourself for what's happening now, you may have done wrong in the past, but you can still change the outcome. Who else knows?"

"Mason, you." he sighed "And Karel." he stood up again.

"Karel? How does he know?" she pushed off the desk. "He hunted the Lux down, remember, and he's not an idiot. He knows what he wants, and everything about what he wants." he said, walking so that the distance between them closed a little. Lara rubbed the back of her hand, scratching at the dressings that covered her wound from earlier that night. "We'll get her back, Kurtis. We've done stuff like this before, this shouldn't be that bad."

"You seem to forget that Karel is immortal, he knows that Morgan is my sister and that we don't have any lead to where they are."

"We'll just have to keep working until we do. We'll get her back."

"I know we will, I'm just worried about what Karel will tell her."

"It's a little late to be worrying, is it not? You had all that time to tell her, but you continued to let it pass away. You seemed like the brother and sister type, though." she chuckled. "We'll get her back, we might not have any information at this moment, but we still have time, we'll find something eventually."

* * *

Darkness surrounded her senses, nothing open but her hearing. Some sort of light was coming from somewhere, but only a hint of it was being let in, forcing her to let it pass over. She felt something around her wrists and wriggled her hands in it's grip, only to find that her hands were bound together. Her breathing was heavy and her hearing was heightened, knowing that something bad was happening. "Get the lights." Morgan heard an all too familiar voice say. A burst of light entered the room, and she scrunched her eyes up as it hacked into her head, seemingly trying it's best to make her head pound the most it could.

Surprisingly, she could open her eyes without a problem, seen as no-one had covered them with a blindfold. Her blue eyes immediately set on Karel's figure who was standing smugly beside his group of mercenaries. She glared up at him as he continued to smile, "What am I doing here?" she spat, earning a disrespectful look from the rest of the people in the room. "We need your help, Morgan, and you're going to give us it regardless of whether you want to or not." he sat down at a table opposite the chair she was tied to, lifting his feet up onto the desk. "I'm not doing anything to help you." she hissed, trying to get a mental grip on the ropes binding her hands. "Hear my offer first, and then you might change your mind." he folded his hands, his fingers interlocking together and he rested them on his lap. "Offer?! I'm a fifteen year old hostage! What sort of offers would I want to listen to? Go and nick a packet of Monster Munch from the shop for you?! It's not as if I can help you and your overgrown apes here do anything! And what would I do? Nothing. There is no way I'm helping you unleash Hell on Earth. I'm fighting this fight my ancestors lost, and you can't stop me!" she screamed at him, focusing all the pain she had gathered throughout her life on this one man, while focusing her mind and thoughts on trying to get her hands free.

Karel shot up, fire in his eyes, giving an almost unnoticeable nod of his head. As soon as he did so, a guard quickly came to Morgan's side, backhanding her. "You have some mouth on you for a Heissturm, nothing like your father or brother." he bit his bottom lip, trying to think of a strategy to get the information he wanted out of Morgan without having turned deaf. "What are you talking about?" she asked, quieter, _a lot _quieter than the tone she had used before. "Oh, did I mention something you didn't know?" he smiled smugly again, happily telling Morgan something that he had no right telling. He walked closer to her and she leant back, still trying to get her hands free. "If you give me what I want, I'll leave Mason, your brother and his little girlfriend alone."

Morgan snapped her head up at him, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You can stop your loved ones getting hurt, Morgan. Help me achieve my goal and they won't be harmed."

"I won't help you, I've already told you. But what are you talking about? I don't have a brother!"

"Kurtis, Morgan." he laughed, sitting down on the table while two guards stood behind Morgan in case she needed to be restrained; something that would more likely happen than her keeping calm. "He's your brother, not that it matter's now, of course." he grinned smugly again, making goosebumps find their way onto Morgan's skin. She looked down at the ground, not really caring about what else was going on. This man had obviously cracked his pot, there was no way Kurtis could be her brother. Someone would have told her. No one would have lied to her about something as important as that, would they? "Give me what I need and no harm will come to them."

"You're lying. There is no way on this Earth he is my sibling, and I'm not helping you. I'm a pawn in this little game, running around after Lara and friends., running away from you, not even being given the option to fight or not. They can take care of themselves, what would losing me matter?"

Karel pushed off the desk and began to pace the room. "I'm losing my patience, Miss Heissturm. Where are they? You are _very_ relevant in my task, and I'm positive your brother shan't give me what I need. You both, are remarkable people among the physic world. And that could all change in the words you speak in these few moments. I need you. And your resistance would be futile."

"He's not my brother!"

"Then explain this, why is it that only you and Kurtis can open the box of Heissturm? Why is it your surname is Heissturm, and Kurtis' father had the exact same surname. Kurtis' last name is not Trent, it's Heissturm. A drop of you or your brother's blood is the only thing on Heaven, Hell and Earth that can open that box, and I want it open."

"How do you know about that box? Mason has had it under lock and key since I've known him."

"Things spread when you need them to. I'm growing impatient, where is your brother, Lara and Mason?!" he was getting fed up and his temper snapped. He had tried to get what he wanted gradually, but Morgan wasn't the type of person who would make that easy for someone else. "I don't know!"

"I've had enough of this." he sighed in frustration and turned to exit the room, waving his hand in the air on the way out. Morgan looked to her right as a guard smiled, before he lifted a gun to her head, striking her with it, the last thing she saw before she blacked out the butt of the gun.

* * *

"What is it, Alister?" Lara asked as she entered the tech room, Kurtis following her. Alister had shouted for them to come down, sounding rather excited about what he had found. "Take a look at this." he beamed as he moved away from the metal desk, pointing at the object that lay there. The box of Heissturm was sat on the table, Zip sitting in his chair just in front of it, edging back slowly as if he expected something to jump out at him. Mason stood on the other side of the desk, nodding for Lara and Kurtis to take interest in the box. "What about it?" she asked, moving to the side so Kurtis could see. "Touch it." Alister said, making Lara look at him as if he were mad. "Why?" she asked. "It's generating some sort of energy that is keeping itself from causing or receiving harm." he said. "What type of energy?" she asked. "The type that tries to kill you if you're not Lux." Zip said. Lara turned back to the box. "We tried to scan it for any way to open it, and it triggered a self-defence mechanism. Except, not the type of self defence you two might use." Mason chuckled, looking up at Lara and Kurtis, "More of the self defence that doesn't harm anyone. It wouldn't let us touch it, so I'm guessing that's the shield of protection." he gazed down at the box again.

"Wait, if you're Lux Veritatis, then why is it not letting you touch it?" Lara asked, reaching her hand out, slowly running it over the metal desk that the box lay on. "I'm not a Heissturm." everyone in the room then looked up at Kurtis, expecting him to know what to do. "How could you not touch it?" Kurtis asked, slowly reaching his hand forward, as if he were debating silently to himself whether to touch it or not. "We just...couldn't. It's sort of hard to explain, like it started radiating this energy and our..._my_ first instinct was to touch it. There was this barrier that just....appeared when we reached for it. Alister tried it, with the same outcome as me and then when Mason tried, he could touch it, but not without getting a nasty burn." Zip sighed, putting his hands behind his head. "Is that why you think this has something to do with Lux members? The Knights can get farther, but not far enough." Lara said, rather matter-of-factly. "Exactly."

"I think Morgan might have something to do with this." Kurtis said, turning his attention away from the box and to his peers. "When I was about fourteen, I was getting chased down by a group of the Cabal. I can remember my father coming in with the box and it started giving off the same sort of energy you're describing. It only happens when a member of my family has a major adrenaline rush. Either her adrenaline levels have kicked in to try and keep herself safe, or she's incredibly scared. She might be making the box giving off this energy without knowing she's doing it."

"And hence the reason why it's called the box of Heissturm." Lara smiled.

"Yes." Kurtis reached out for the box again, "But what if it's not just to keep itself safe. What if we can use this to find Morgan?"

"I'm listening." Lara said, turning to face him. Kurtis took his hand back, putting it by his side, "If Morgan is causing this, then she might be connected to it somehow. I'm not sure, but if I go into farsee, maybe I can connect with the box to reach Morgan."

"But that still doesn't explain how it can actually connect with your blood relatives. If it can't be open, then how can we...use it?" Alister asked. "Because it can be opened. Only with blood." Mason said. "With blood?" everyone looked up at him. "I stayed up last night, looking over the box. Of course, it has similar markings to other Lux artefact's, but this one cannot be controlled by any psychic. It was passed down through Kurtis' generation, meaning that it has never strayed away from his family. If any of the Heissturm's blood spills on that box, it will open."

"Then why don't we open it now?" Zip asked.

"Because if we open it, we would be doing exactly what Karel plans to do. It opens a portal in Cappadocia that is the gateway to Hell."

"Or in our case, the gateway to Hell _and _the thing that will let the Nephilim roam the Earth." Alister sighed. "That's exactly why we can't open it, not yet anyway."

"Then let's see if it let's anyone but Kurtis in." Lara reached her hand out, trying to wrap it around the box to pick it up, but she quickly snatched it back, shaking it as a burn began to form. "It doesn't seem like it. How long do you think it will take to find Morgan?" she asked Kurtis. "Not long. Five minuets at the most, it depends on how long I can hold the link with the box." he shrugged.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"If I don't then we might not get Morgan back. I can't risk that." he sighed, stretching his arms out in front of him. He felt his mind escape his body, his presence lingering in the room before he went for the box. He felt his being getting pulled in, and then everything was black.

Lara watched, ready to rush to Kurtis' side in case he suddenly collapsed. The only thing she could see of his eyes, were their whites. She stood and watched as he swayed backwards and forwards, but there was always some sort of breeze near her, like he was suggesting he was still there. She looked behind her to Alister, who was standing with his mouth on the ground, grinning as much as his face would allow him to. She turned her attention back to Kurtis as Zip shot up and Mason made his way to the other side of the desk. Kurtis was shaking violently and suddenly collapsed to the floor, his breathing heavy. Lara rushed to his side, kneeling down beside him as he opened his eyes. "Are you OK? Did you find her?" she asked, helping him up.

"I've found her." he smiled.

* * *

**AN: I'm sooooo sorry for the late update!!! Believe me, I had to re-write this chapter LOTS of times, but I finally settled on one. It was the starting of it that I never really liked. Anyways, I WILL update on Tuesday. :-P**

* * *


	14. Out Of Time

Out Of Time

**AN: Yes, another late update. So from now on, to stop that, I've decided to update every Monday, which will make it a HELL of a lot easier for me. **

_**Imaginary by Evanescence**_

* * *

Lara stepped off her Ducati, Kurtis mirroring her actions. She tightened her fingerless gloves on her hands and looked behind her as a black van also pulled up beside them. Zip rolled the window down of the tech van, letting Lara see in to where him, Alister and Mason were sitting. "You sure this is the place?" he asked as Kurtis and Lara walked up to them, "Positive." Kurtis said. "Hey, you're the psychic, just making sure." Zip laughed. "It's just too close." Alister said, moving so he was in everybody's view. "We've seen worse, Cornwall, remember?" Zip smiled.

"Ah, the most distinct route for trying to discover Avalon. A dual carriageway." Alister laughed. "This isn't so close if Karel actually wants us to find Morgan or not." Lara sighed, tightening her holsters around her thighs. Rain splattered onto the ground beside them, making mud cover her boots. "Well we're going to find her either way – and we're going to get her back." Mason said, coming from the back of the van where he had been sitting with the box of Heissturm. He was watching over it carefully, as Kurtis had instructed, in case it made any unexpected connections with Morgan for any reason. "Should we get going, then?" Lara asked, sounding somewhat cheery for the situation. "There's nothing like breaking into a building to cheer you up on a typical British day – weather wise, of course." she smiled. "If you say so," Zip said. He turned back and reached into a small duffel bag he was carrying with him and pulled out two sets of headsets. "There's a camera joint onto it, use these to keep in contact with us at all times, we can see what you see through the camera's, kay?" he asked. "Will do." Kurtis said, accepting his pair of equipment. "Let's get going, the sooner we get Morgan back, the sooner I can get back to killing Karel." he laughed. "Right, on we go then." Lara said, rubbing her hands together to try and get _some_ heat flowing through her body.

Her and Kurtis turned away from the van, scanning over the area for the quickest way to get in. The building was just like any other abandoned one – a warehouse, with walls that still stood well and it was located in the middle of nowhere, so no one would even think of looking there for anything suspicious. But Lara and Kurtis had been through their fair share of 'unexpected locations' during doing the jobs that the did. The warehouse had seemed a bit too close for comfort for both Lara and most of the rest of the group; practically being around the corner from Croft Manor. She walked towards a drain pipe nearby, jumping up to grab it. She let go of one hand, looking down to Kurtis who was beginning to make his way towards it, "This is probably our quickest entrance." she said, before climbing back up. "What happened to the good old fashioned front door?" he asked sarcastically as he caught up with her. "Dying." she rolled her eyes as she continued upwards. "Why can't we just kill _them _instead of them killing us?" he laughed. "Because it's most likely Gunderson guarding the door, and I would prefer to kill him on a one to one battle." she grunted as she pulled herself up from the drain pipe, standing up on the roof. She looked down as Kurtis got closer to the roof, "Now you're just taking all the fun out of it – and the piss. I wanted to kill that bastard, you can take Karel." he pulled himself up, standing beside Lara as she looked down at the glass roof of the warehouse.

She smiled as she looked up at him, "Oh, how generous of you, Mr Trent, how gentlemanly of you to give me the immortal one to dispose of."

"I do try my best." he waved his hands up in the air, his signature smirk decorating his mouth. "Is that our way in?" he asked, leaving the joke as it was. Lara sighed, "It's my best guess."

"_Nobody's down in that area,"_ Alister informed them over the headset, "How are we getting in?" Kurtis asked, hugging his jacket as the rain became heavier. Lara simply pulled one of her pistols, firing several shots at the glass before kicking some shards of glass away with her boot, she looked up at Kurtis before she jumped in, landing with a grunt before looking back up. "Like that!" she shouted up to him. Kurtis rolled his eyes before following after her. He looked around as he landed, "Are you sure that was a good idea? What if someone heard us?" he asked, checking to make sure they were alone. "Coming from the man who just insulted my decision to make sure we weren't seen my anybody?" she chuckled before tapping into her headset. "Zip, where do we go from now?" she asked. _"I don't know, there's some interference with the camera signal, I can only hear you."_

"We're not even a mile away from you....?" Kurtis reminded them while moving forward to check the halls for any mercenaries that might have heard the glass shattering. _"These guys are good, real good, they know what they're doing, so they have skill in keeping me blocked with some signals." _he sighed. "Why can we still hear you, then?" Lara asked as she caught up with Kurtis. They checked that the coast was clear before they stealthed forward, their guns in their hands in case they needed to use them on any threat. _"I've not worked that out – it might not even be them causing the gap, it might just be a bad signal, but you _have_ to stay with us at all times. If something happens to you, we have no way of figuring an escape route for you._"

"Who said we'll need the help?" Lara chuckled as she walked ahead of Kurtis, checking around a corner before moving around it. She looked as she saw a door to her left, scanning through it, she didn't see anything important – at first. After walking forward a few steps, she returned to her previous position, looking hard at the room as if she knew something was there, but she just couldn't see it. Her eyes landed on one spot, the Bamburugh Beast striking out to her. "See that?" she asked Kurtis, moving to the side so he could see. "Karel mentioned something about it before he took off. Do you think we should take it?"

Kurtis ran a hand through his hair, "I think we should do what we came here to do, then we can worry about anything else."

Lara nodded her head and sighed, "You're right, we should get Morgan." But something was nagging her in the back of her mind, like she shouldn't be giving up so easily. It was that small voice again – something she was supposed to call her conscience. That artefact stood out to her, and whether it was for the right or wrong reasons, she wasn't quite sure. "Lets go." She turned away from the door, putting her pistols back in their holsters. She tapped into her headset once again, "Zip, any luck with the signal?" she stopped again, turning to face Kurtis who was slowly walking towards her. _"We can find your location from the tracker on your headset. We still can't see where you are. We can still direct you to where you need to go, if Kurtis can describe the route his mind took to find Morgan once connected with the box." _Zip sighed at the other end. Lara looked behind her as footsteps were heard coming closer and she looked up onto the ceiling. "Would the vent be a good place to start?" she asked. _"As good as any, yes." _Alister said.

Lara reached up above her, pulling the handle of the vent grate before it eventually came hanging down. She looked to make sure that no one was coming again, and then back at Kurtis, "Ladies first." he smiled. "On you go then." Lara shot back with a smile. Kurtis rolled his eyes, before moving to the side to let Lara get up to the vent. He bent down, cupping his hands as Lara placed her foot between them. He grunted as he pushed her up and stood up straight to see her crawl into the vent. He jumped up and grabbed the edge of the vent, pulling himself up behind Lara. He quickly reached down, pulling the grating back up from where it hung at the entrance to the vent. He watched through the holes of the grating as a group of three mercenaries passed below them. He sighed as they passed through, not noticing anything above them.

Kurtis turned around to face Lara. "Close one."

Lara got down on her knees, "This is only ten percent luck. Where do we go from here?" she asked, sitting still. _"Erm, try going straight for a while and drop down at the opening. Turn right and follow the corridors until you find an opening. From what Kurtis told Mason, that looks like the place where his mind started off."_

"Thank you." she said as she crawled forward, Kurtis sighing before following close behind. Several minuets later, they found themselves at the second grating. Lara peered down the slits in the metal, making sure it was safe to go down before she opened it, jumping down. She bent her knees as she landed, and looked up to Kurtis as he also jumped down, joining her on the ground. They both turned right, and looked down at a dark hallway. _"Is this ironic or what. You're on a 'rescue mission' and you have to travel down a dark, spooky hallway."_

"It's hardly a spooky hallway when you have guns and you know how to use them." Lara laughed. "What's going to be there, a scary monster?" Kurtis rolled his eyes, _"Hey, I'm supposed to go to an effort to make this stuff up." _Zip said over the headset. _"Uh-oh, you better get to somewhere safe, and quick, someone's coming." _

Lara hid herself behind a corner, Kurtis close behind her and she peered around the corner, "I don't see anything." she whispered. "That's because it's an invisiblescary monster and it's a dark, spooky, hallway." Kurtis rolled his eyes, making Lara laugh. _"You take the piss out of me, and I'm not going to help you down the hallway." _Zip warned, but he was still laughing. _"Okay, your monster is about there." _Lara looked back behind the corner, this time seeing a guard coming towards them. She pushed her back up against the wall, balling her fists as the guard walked out of the hallway. She stealthed up behind him, covering his mouth with one hand as she wrapped her second one around his throat. Quickly and cleanly, she snapped his head to the side, dropping his body to the floor as it lay still. "Some monster." she laughed. Kurtis began to walk down the hallway, removing his gun from it's shoulder holster as he advanced. "This is it." he nodded, "This is where the box brought me."

"She's going to be safe, and we're getting her back." Lara reassured him. "Where do we go from here?" she asked him. "This carries on straight for a while, only with a couple of doors. I think there's a T junction at the end, and if we turn left and follow the other corridors we come to a door. She's in there." he sighed, "What am I supposed to do once we find her? How am I supposed to tell her?"

"You'll be fine – I'm sure she'll understand." she nodded. "But if we don't get going soon, there might not be a Morgan to tell." she squeezed his shoulder. _"As lovely as this is, shouldn't we be getting back to business?" _Alister said. "Yes, lets go." Kurtis sighed, walking forward.

Lara followed after him, looking around the corridor as they progressed. "Has anything strange happened to the box?" she asked. _"No, not yet." _Mason's voice came from over the headset. _"But I'm still on the look out. We don't know if Morgan's adrenaline levels will rise again, and if it does – and if what Kurtis said is true – then it would trigger a reaction with the box. We'll keep it safe, don't worry." _

"Thank you." she gazed around the dark hallway, switching her LED light on. She hugged her jacket and looked up as droplets of rain leaked through a hole in the ceiling. "Not a very secure building." she sighed. "Maybe that's why Karel's using it." Kurtis suggested, also switching his LED light on to light the passage in front of him. _"He could have cleaned it up a bit." _Alister chuckled. "Well, when you're trying to bring Hell to Earth, Alister, it does take up some of your free time." Lara said.

Lara and Kurtis continued down the hallway, just walking straight until they came to the T junction. _"Are you sure it's left?" _Zip asked. "Positive, why?" Kurtis said. _"I just can't see anything to the __left, but if you saw her there, then on you go." _

"Actually, how is the signal now?" Lara asked, stopping to adjust her camera to see if it helped Zip with the signal. _"It's getting better, but I'd rather use the way we're keeping in touch with you now than risking it just to see what you see."_

"Very well." she began to walk again, jogging up to Kurtis. They both turned left down the hallway, being able to see better from the lights hanging both on the walls and from within the rooms the corridor held. She hesitantly began to walk down, but stopped again when she saw something that might be of importance – again – in a room. She looked over the desk that was in the centre of the room, resting her alerted gaze. Scanning over the sheets of paper, she saw archaeological blueprints for what looked like an underground passageway, and also some notes beside it. She looked harder, but to no avail, as she was too far away. The only thing that seemed to stick out to her, though, was 'Cappadocia' written in the only font big enough to read. Something else was written underneath it, which seemed to be of more importance due to it was underlined.

"_What is it, Lara?" _Alister asked, Kurtis walking up to her. "There's something written on that sheet of paper, but I can't make it out."

"I would take a look if we had time, but we _are _racing against the clock here." he sighed, rubbing his head. "You go ahead then, she's _your _sister. I'll see what it says myself, I didn't say anything about needing your help." Lara said, taking a few steps back. She kicked her leg up, breaking the door off it's hinges as Kurtis sighed again. "We don't have that much time, be quick." he explained, turning away from her. "When have I ever lacked on a time trial?" she shouted after him, chuckling. Kurtis turned around, smiling. She returned the gesture, leaning against the wall. His smile grew, and she found herself placing her hands against the wall, just trying to support her legs that threatened to turn to jelly at the sight of it, "Oh I don't doubt it, Ms Croft." he turned around again, swaggering slightly, over-exaggerating the length his arms swayed, similar to the way she had seen him walk in Prague before he turned around again waving a two fingered salute, "Happy snooping." and that half-smile of his was back. A smile she hadn't seen in months.

Lara rolled her eyes as she entered the room, quickly jogging up to the desk. She smiled as she picked the sheets of paper up. Scanning through it, her smile immediately dropped. Having a hint at what she might be reading, she scanned through the few paragraphs. This was what they needed Morgan for – they wanted her blood; and then they wanted her dead. But there had to be more to this, they wouldn't just kidnap someone, take something as little as blood and kill them. Or maybe they would. But something was missing, something she couldn't quite figure out. Why did they need Morgan's blood? What use would it be to them? The possibilities and theories raced around in her head, and searching for an explanation, she turned her head to the top of the page. Looking over the words, she read aloud, "Cappadocia – Nephili Veritatis."

"_What, Lara?" _Alister questioned over the headset. Nephili Veritatis? Was this some kind of a joke? Was there a cult of Nephili _considerably_ exactly like the Lux Veritatis. Underneath it, there was a brief note, that when everything was explained to her in those few sentences she read, she feared the worst for the girl that was sitting in that room; being held captive by Karel. They were going to turn her into a Nephilim. They weren't planning to kill _her _as a being, but her as a Lux. From the notes that were scribbled on this, she could tell that they were in deep trouble. She startled as she felt the cold steel of a gun at the back of her neck. She gritted her teeth as a thick German accent came from behind her. "Ms Croft, it's been a while. Didn't anybody ever teach you to mind your own business." Lara closed her eyes as she felt him reach down and disarm her of her pistols, then pushing his gun harder into her neck. "Didn't anybody tell you not to experiment on young girls?"she raised an eyebrow at him, her hands balling into fists. "Of course, that's left to imaginative teenage boys." she could hear the smirk on his face in the tone in his voice. That was enough to make Lara's rage levels hit the roof. She quickly spun on her heels, lifting her fist to strike it across Gunderson's face, but she gulped when the solid steel of the gun came into contact with her chest and before she knew it, a bullet ripped it's way into her flesh.

* * *

**AN: Well, if you know me but AT ALL by now, you know that I love my cliffies!!! So on Monday, there WILL be an update, and from now on, I'll update every Monday, which will make it A LOT easier for me. So, see you all then :-)**


	15. Echo

**Right, seen as L and K have been on a dry spell for a while, I thought I'd give them some....*ahem* alone time**

**_Until The Day I Die by Story Of The Year_**

"_Lara? Lara?!" _Gunderson smiled smugly as Lara fell to her knees, her breathing irregular. _"Oh my God, Lara! Kurtis, get Lara, quick!" _Alister screamed through the headset. He didn't hear anything through Kurtis' end, only low, shallow breathing, but everyone in the van focused themselves on Lara's survival. _"Lara?" _they all heard Kurtis' low voice over the headset, his breathing getting quicker by the second. Gunderson smirked as he took a hold of Lara's falling body taking her headset from her ear, pulling it up to his mouth, "Time's out, Trent. Time out for you, Morgan and your little girlfriend here." he threw it down on the ground, standing on it. Kurtis could still hear Lara's faint groans of agony. He stood stock still, hoping to God that this wasn't real.

Lara fell to the ground, now on all fours, using all of her strength she had in her to stay both upright and alive. She moved her head up, peering at Gunderson through her eyes that narrowed upon seeing his face. She screamed as she felt a great burst of pain on her stomach and looked to see a foot moving away from her burning abdomen. She glared up at her attacker, before returning her cold gaze to Gunderson, who was still standing in a fighting stance, smirking down on her. This was just his job. Nothing he did was ever for pleasure, but the reaction he gave when Lara fell flat to the floor, rolling on her back, clutching her abdomen for dear life, erased all that from her beliefs. She screamed again, this time burning the eardrums of everyone in the room. She was dying; only a few minuets, if not seconds to live; and Gunderson was laughing about it.

She removed her hand from her top, looking at it, covered in blood. She was now lying in a pool of the red liquid, her clothes, her hair, everything around her soaking into it. Stray strands of chestnut hair fell onto her face, shooting up with her heavy breathing. She watched as Gunderson lifted his gun up again, disposing of the empty cartridge before loading a new magazine into it. He aimed it at Lara again, and she quickly reached out for her pistol, trying to defend herself with what she could. A deafening scream escaped her lips again, and she let her hand drop the floor, her whole body laying still.

* * *

Kurtis halted as he heard a gunshot over the headset. Almost naturally, he reached towards his holster, grabbing the butt of his gun. _"Oh my God, Lara! Kurtis, get Lara, quick!" _he heard Alister scream over the headset. He stood stock still. His breathing came out in low, husky breaths as he waited for a response over the headset. "Lara?" he asked, fearing the worst. _"Time's out, Trent. Time out for you, Morgan, and your little girlfriend here." _he heard Gunderson sneer over the headset. He heard a low crunching noise over the other end, and after that, nothing but a buzzing noise. Quickly, he turned around on his heel, his breathing getting faster and louder by the second as he raced to get to Lara.

He quickly sprinted down the corridor, running as fast as he could to reach the spot where he had left Lara. He felt hot, stinging tears find their way into his eyes, and before long, one fell; followed by another. He glanced down at the floor, tiles that were once clean covered in lime scale, mud; the works. He watched as the droplets of hurt and fear that cast themselves from his eyes fell onto the floor, mixing with the rain water that had fallen from the leak in the ceiling. He quickly snapped his head up, roughly wiping the water away from his cheeks and eyes as he picked his pace up, the muscles in his legs burning from the amount of pressure he was putting on them to go faster.

He could feel his leather jacket flowing behind him, and the heat that was building up around him made him quickly discard of it. Throwing it behind him, he looked back as it dropped on a wet patch of the floor, but he quickly snapped his head up as he advanced closer towards his goal.

The pair had only parted about five minuets earlier, and Kurtis had only covered as much land as he did because he was running. He was so close to getting to Morgan, only what seemed a corridor – if not a few doors – away from her, but he had to make the decision. The decision to either carry on saving Morgan, or save Lara from an unexpected death. And; even though this entire time he had his mind set fully on rescuing Morgan, he couldn't just let Lara _die._ He wasn't ready for something like that to happen just yet – hell, he doubted if he ever _would _be ready to watch Lara slip away from him. He hadn't even thought of it. He just _had _to make sure he saved Lara. This is when he really did regret leaving all those months ago. If he hadn't have been so stupid and just accepted how much he _needed _Lara, then they wouldn't be in this mess. If he got her out of this, he wasn't even letting her go again. He was going to tell her how much he loved her, take her in his arms and love her like it was the last time he could get the chance to. But that was the thing. _If _he got her out of this.

He still wasn't going to let her die. Not unless he was going to die trying to save her. He mentally kicked himself once again; he really _had _been an idiot. Four months ago, when he was telling Lara that he was leaving the next morning, he also told himself that he would be fine without her. That he would be able to forget her, get over her, live without the taste of her lips, live without her touch, resist the temptation to admit how much he loved her. It was harder than it sounded. But he had covered up his feelings regardless. Well, that was in the past. He was going to put his actions straight. Even if he died doing it. Even if he died trying to save the woman he loved.

He skidded to a halt as he reached the corridor where he had left Lara. He instantly reached towards the familiar Boran X at his side. He pulled it out and wrapped both of his hands around it, the ring on his finger clinking against the metal. Tightening his grip, he headed up the corridor. _Don't you dare die on me, Lara, _he thought as he stealthed up to the door, standing directly in front of it.

Taking in a silent, deep breath, he quickly moved forward, shouldering the door open. His eyes widened and he quickly dropped to his knees, after making his way over to a pale Lara lying on the floor. He threw his gun down on the floor, moving around so he could see her face clearly from above. Her eyes were closed, and her face was deathly pale, the only light a red patch on the corner of one of her cheeks. Kurtis looked around, just realising what he was kneeling in. He was surrounded by a pool of blood, originating at Lara's chest. He wiped his hands as he leaned in close to her ghostly white face, listening for some sort of breathing. Nothing.

He stifled a sob as he placed two fingers to her neck. Something was there, but it was _very_ faint. He sighed with relief, but he had to get her breathing again. Moving his gun closer to him in case he needed to use it again, he wiped away the hair that had fallen over her eyes. Startling, he turned around as he heard a scuffle behind him. A mercenary stood there, lifting their hand in the air. The guard smacked Kurtis over the head with the butt of his gun. Everything went dark.

* * *

Kurtis' eyes opened slightly, his vision blurry and hazy. Groaning, he brought his hand to his head, removing it to see dry blood on his fingertips. He sat up, once again groaning as his eyes fully opened, taking in the room he was in. Stone walls surrounded him, a locked wooden door stopped anyone from entering or exiting and he was sitting on plain concrete floor. He scanned over the rest of the room, becoming more alert as he saw Lara lying on the floor. He quickly stood up, rushing over to her, kneeling down beside her. Someone had moved them to that spot, but if they thought Lara was dead, then why hadn't they just dumped her body somewhere? Unless they wanted to experiment on her, there was no need.

He took her hand in his, placing two fingers at her wrist, searching for a pulse that wasn't there. He wouldn't have hesitated with what he did next. It wasn't something that any one else could do – it was something he had gotten from his father. A skill that is one of the most "boastable" things a child can brag about. A talent that you can never be ashamed of, but a talent that you would most likely only use once. A gift that only occurred "once in a blue moon." or in other words; it wasn't normal. But Kurtis wasn't normal. He was far from it, in fact. It was a gift to bring the dead back to life. A talent to transfer energy from his own body into another being's, making him temporarily weak, but it would save someone else. But it all depended on how long Lara had actually been....dead. The word; it made him sick to his stomach. The thought that Lara was lying there in front of him, _dead, _made him feel a surge of nausea wash over him, and it took all he had to keep it in.

Stealing his mind away from his stray thoughts, he reached his hands out over Lara, hovering them in the air over her chest, almost directly above her heart. He closed his eyes, letting the energy slip through him and into Lara's still being. His eyes opened again, revealing the whites of his eyes as the energy moved from within him to within Lara. He drew his hands back when his body couldn't take any more, falling down on to the ground and breathing heavily. He opened his eyes again, getting back up to check if his efforts had worked. He smiled weakly and let out a sigh of relief as he felt both Lara's breath and pulse.

He shook her lightly, trying to get her awake again, moving her up into his secure arms. He stroked the hair away from her face gently, and watched as she began to cough blood up, her eyes shooting open. Lara shot up from her lying position in Kurtis' arms, coughing violently as she crawled out of his way, the blood that she was coughing up splattering over the floor. She wiped her mouth, turning her head up to Kurtis as he knelt on the ground, slowly ready to move to her if she needed any help. "Wh-....what happened?" she asked him, her breathing becoming more stable. "I'm not sure, but I think you were.....I think you _died_." he bowed his head slightly, the words that were coming out giving him _physical _pain just to speak them. "Then how...how am I still here?" she asked. She could see the hurt in his eyes, and she hadn't thought it through. She wasn't trying to hurt him, _she _was the one that died, so she did have the right to ask how she was still on Earth.. "It's a little hard to explain, but how are you feeling?" he moved closer to her as she crawled closer, moving her hand across her chest where the bullet had punctured her toned skin. "As good as you can get when you've just been shot......listen, Kurtis, I'm sorry." she sighed, bowing her head. "_You're _sorry? For what?" he searched her eyes, as if they could explain what she was feeling. They did. All he saw in them was pain, sorrow and a lust for love.

"I shouldn't have been so determined and focused my mind on something else. We came here to get Morgan and I shouldn't have let my mind stray away from that. You saved me, and I should be thankful. I'm sorry." she looked down at the ground, but brought her head up again when she felt Kurtis' soft skin against her cheek and she closed her eyes into the sensation of his touch. "You don't have to be sorry. I'm never letting you go." he smiled. Emotion swamped both Lara's mind and her eyes and she couldn't hold it in any more. She had lived without him long enough, and when he showed that he still cared for her, she pushed him away, just like she always did when she felt vulnerable. She quickly pulled his mouth to hers, kissing him deeply before she pulled away – hours before she wanted to. She watched as Kurtis smiled, and she returned the gesture, moving her hand away from her chest to the large bruise on her abdomen, where the mercenary had kicked her on her deathbed. So what did this mean? Where they going to stay together? Was Kurtis going to apologise for leaving? Was she going to admit that she needed him to feel the need to live? She wasn't sure, but all she knew is that she was _never _letting him leave again. Lara looked up to Kurtis from her abdomen, removing her hand upon doing so. Her eyes rolled shut, her body overcoming a great amount of pain and soon, she collapsed to the floor, her whole world becoming black.

"Lara!" Kurtis rushed over to her side, leaning over her. She was just unconscious, her breathing nor her heart had stopped, but how long she would stay _just _unconscious, he didn't know. "Lara, you can't do this." he lightly hit her cheek, trying to shock her into waking up. "Lara!" he groaned, shaking her by the soldiers, "Don't you DARE do this to me." he slapped her face again, watching as her eyes opened slightly. She breathed out heavily, closing her eyes again. Kurtis sighed in frustration, shaking her again. He had to make sure she was awake. He didn't know what he could do, though, there wasn't anything he could do to wake her up. He snapped his head up as he heard a door opening and closing through the bars and he automatically reached for the gun at his side, only looking down when he felt his hand grip thin air, "Shit." he cursed through gritted teeth, moving Lara over to a wall, leaning her body against it. He held his breath as he heard footsteps coming closer to the cell, but he let out a sigh of relief.

"Mason." he sighed, standing up and moving over to his Lux brother. He ran a hand through his hair as Mason pulled a key out, unlocking the barred door before pushing it open. "It's about bloody time." Kurtis groaned, accepting his Boran X that Mason handed him. "We've not got a lot of time, Karel is probably onto me." he scanned over the room, his eyes setting on Lara, "I'll take Lara out to safety and you get Morgan." Mason moved over towards Lara, lifting her unconscious body up. He walked back over towards Kurtis, standing next to him. "Be quick, we don't have much time." he looked down at Lara in his arms before looking back at Kurtis, easily seeing that tears had built up in his eyes, "I'll make sure she's safe. Don't worry. I know you've lost her once already, and I won't let it happen again."

Kurtis looked down at Lara, gently stroking her soft cheek before he looked up at Mason. "Take care of her." he said. He turned away and exited the room after Mason gave him his word. He was going to make up for leaving her; but other things were more important at the moment. He began to speed up, coming out of the corridor near to where they had entered the building. _Oh, great, _he rolled his eyes, jogging down the path him and Lara had originally went, the route almost memorized in his head, _going back and forth, again._

Several minuets later, he came to a set of stairs, leading down to one door. Suddenly, he felt anger growing up in side of him, and fuelled by the emotion, he thrust his hand outwards, the door caving in. He walked down, not caring about stealth any more, and he was met by a group of mercenaries, all standing around Morgan, who was bound to a chair, and he scanned over the room, finding Karel seated in a chair in the corner, his legs crossed at the ankles on top of a table. All of the guards turned around to face him, lifting their guns, getting ready to aim at him, but he quickly forced them into a wall with a surge of mental energy. He stalked towards Karel, holding a hand up to force him against a wall while he balled his second hand into a fist, wanting to let his anger strike out onto Karel and nothing else. "You let her go." he raised his fist towards him, waiting for him to answer. "There's nothing you can do that can harm me. Your fists may hurt some unsuspecting soul, Kurtis, but not me." Karel scoffed, throwing Kurtis against the opposite wall with the same amount of force Kurtis had used. "Is this how you get your kicks, Karel? Watching – no, _making –_ young girls suffer?" Kurtis asked, standing up.

He watched as Karel glanced out of the corner of his eye, seeing Morgan who was staring up at them both, not willing to say any words. Her mind was still buzzing from the minuets before, still trying to get her head around what Karel had been saying about Kurtis. He could have easily been lying, he could have just been trying to get a reaction out of her so that she would give him the information he wanted. She worked at the ropes bind at her hands, hissing through gritted teeth as the ropes burnt her skin. "If she wasn't so futile, there would be no need to make her feel pain." he said, pushing Kurtis further up the wall. "Tell me, how is Lara? Comfy, no doubt, in her proper home. Hell." he sneered.

Kurtis forced himself free of Karel's grip, and then something happened. Something that he couldn't control. He had lost control of his physic abilities. His mind was lost; and he didn't know how to get it back. Karel had _forced _his family apart all those years ago, caused the death of his father, kidnapped his sister and now he was saying that Lara belongs in hell? He wanted this bastard dead.

Everything went into chaos. A forcefield seemed to evolve itself around both Kurtis and Morgan, but everything else in the room was forced into the thunderstorm of Kurtis' mind. The furniture in the room was thrown all over the place, the windows shattered in an instant, and when Morgan looked up to Kurtis, she had never been more scared in her life. This was a different side to him; something she didn't ever want to see again. She looked up as someone else burst into the room, and screamed out when she saw Mason entering, staring at the sight in front of him as if it were madness. "Mason! What's he doing?!" she screamed at her cousin, watching as he continued to stay still, staring wide eyed at Kurtis.

"Kurtis!" Mason shouted at him, trying to snap his attention away from Karel and back to what was going on around him. "Kurtis! Leave him!" he screamed, making his way over to the boundary of the forcefield. He watched as Kurtis snapped back into his body, turning to look at Mason before he glared back at Karel. The chaos was still going on around them, but it had calmed down a touch, with Kurtis having control over himself again. "He's going to pay." were the words that found themselves out of his mouth. "Stop!" Morgan screamed, finally getting her hands free. "You're going to kill us!" she walked over to him in the forcefield, taking a hold of his arm. "I've lost my parents – I can't lose you!" she tried to get him out of his trance. "She's right, Kurtis. You're not helping." Mason said, stealthing closer to the pair.

He watched on as everything that had been flying fell to floor, and Kurtis stumbled back a few steps, his eyes staying locked on Karel the whole time. "We've got her back," Mason reminded him, "We need to get going before those mercs wake up."

"They're not the problem. This bastard is." Kurtis said through gritted teeth, looking on at Karel who was just chuckling. "Why aren't you stopping us?" he questioned Karel, narrowing his eyes. "Your pity attempts to stop me isn't worth watching – no matter how amusing it is." he smirked. Kurtis turned back towards Mason, who was watching from the door, letting Morgan pass him. With a silent agreement, Kurtis smirked, turning back towards Karel. "You're the one that's going to rot in hell, Karel; not Lara." he quickly landed a punch on his cheek, hearing the impact of Kurtis' knuckles to Karel's skin, and a graze formed on the beaten flesh, blood soon oozing out of it. Kurtis turned around, a disgusted look on his face, and he exited the room with Mason, following after Morgan.

Kurtis sighed in his mind as Morgan walked up to them, looking at Kurtis, like she was trying to tell him what she was going to say through her eyes that were locked onto his. "Did he hurt you?" Kurtis asked as she came closer, scanning over her for any visual signs of physical torment. "What's it to you? Starting to care all of a sudden?" she replied dryly, dragging her eyes away from his. "Excuse me?" he asked, taken aback. "Karel told me." she said coolly, turning away from her brother and cousin. She stalked up the halls, not caring to look to see who might jump out at her, not caring where she was going – feeling betrayed by her only living family. It was always the same. She was never good enough. For anybody.

Mason sighed as he turned to Kurtis as they followed after Morgan, "So, what now?" Mason asked. "Now? I need to tell Lara something." he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

* * *

_Green lights flashed behind her, everything else that existed was black. She ran, she ran until her lungs could no longer produce air to keep her going at the speed she was going. But she kept running. She kept running, sprinting, gasping for breath, and she carried on as her limbs burned, not knowing where this path was going to take her. The green orbs swam in the air around her, and no matter how fast she ran, she couldn't escape them. One hit her in the back, and it burned, stung, peeled at her skin, forcing her to fly down onto the ground. _

_She shrunk at that moment, and she watched as the much bigger, much more terrifying bastard that she knew the face of all-to well now stalked towards her. His foot covered over her as he laughed, just before she grew back to scale. She forced herself from her lying position on the ground, sitting up, but she was instantly covered in blood. She screamed in great agony as she continued, sprinting forward. Then, she was in a place she didn't want to see ever again. Boaz's arena. _

_She gasped as she looked around, trying not to give this version of her hair-whitening nightmare the advantage of petrifying her to her soul, like the first one. A laugh filled the room, echoing off the walls, bouncing back to torture her ears that had no defence against it's deafening scream. She turned around again and again, trying to spot the owner of the crooked sound. Once she spotted the dark figure, with lightening speed, it moved to another spot, and soon she was standing stock still, her eyes darting about the place, paranoid from this sole man. Soon, he stood in front of her, glaring through his green eyes before he moved with lightening speed to the platform above her. _

_Then, he raised his hands. "You're pushing me too far," he said. Then, he shot the energy in her direction to kill her. _

Lara sat straight up, gasping for air. She was surrounded by darkness, except for the small light that crept through from the moon shining in the window to the right of her. Where was she? She felt soreness overtake both her abdomen and her chest, looking down at the loosely tied bandage just below her shoulder, just above the left side of her chest, but she could still see a vertical line of crimson red blood seeping it's way through. Someone had attended to her wounds, but who?

Lara had no idea where she was. She was lying atop a king-sized bed. The bedspread was an elegant bohemian fabric, and the curtains along the window matched it. The temperature of the huge room was cool, but not a cool that you shivered to, a cool that you would prefer to sleep in. Lara felt her body relax. She looked over and out of the window, gazing at the countryside that surrounded them. They weren't in Croft Manor..... She sensed, somehow, that she wasn't in danger, and she felt herself closing her eyes, sighing blissfully at this rare moment; a moment of peace. But she still couldn't move. Even sitting up was an effort.

The door to the room opened, and a dim light from the hallway entered in. "You awake?" a voice asked. Lara felt her heart soar. _Kurtis_, she thought. She never knew she could be so happy to hear his voice. "Unfortunately," she said in a hoarse tone.

Kurtis closed the door behind him, then approached the bed, pulling up a chair that was nearby and taking a seat. "Bad dreams?" he asked.

"Karel can do that to you." she chuckled softly.

Kurtis glanced about the room uneasily, before landing his gaze on Lara. "I wrapped that for you," he nodded towards the bandage she was wearing. "It had pretty much healed all the way, but there was some bits that were left open. Mason thought it would be best to give the wound some air, so that's why...em." he rubbed the back of his neck, looking away uneasily. Lara looked down, just realising then that the only thing on her upper body was her bra and the great amount of bandages that covered her wounds from her shoulder to her abdomen. Lara blushed slightly, "It was probably the best idea." Lara smiled, offering a weak, subtle smile as gratitude. Of course, she was glad to be with Kurtis, but now, the awkwardness was erupting. Lara didn't know what to say or do, so she stuck to what she knew best – business. "The others?" she asked.

"They're in their rooms." he explained. "Mason brought us up to Edinburgh, just for a safe place to rest while we wait to go to Spain. He said he tried to explain that to you once you regained consciousness, but then you dozed back off."

"I vaguely remember that..." she admitted.

"What else do you remember?" Kurtis asked.

"Well....I left you, and I went into that room. I saw these papers with "Nephili Veritatis" marked on it, so I went to check them out. Gunderson came into the room behind me, and when I tried to stop him, he shot me. Another man kicked me in the abdomen as I blacked out. They wanted something. I briefly woke up as they were leaving, and I remember one mercenary trying to get some information out of me, but I blocked him out." she sighed, picking up a thread on the bed that began to unravel as she toyed with it.

"Yeah, you're good at that." he said, chuckling a bit. Then, he realised his mistake. It was meant to be a joke, but the look in Lara's eyes were of guilt, and not humour. He immediately felt sorry for saying that. He sighed silently as he got up, "I better get to bed. You should be getting your rest." He quietly made his way to the door, but Lara stopped him.

"Kurtis...." she breathed quietly. He turned around to face her. Lara got up, walking over to him, but her legs turned to jelly and she soon found herself being supported in Kurtis' arms. He looked down at her as she supported herself, and she gazed up into his eyes, surrendering to their beauty. She needed to tell him. And she knew he still felt the same way – she _hoped _he did, anyway. "There's so much I need to tell you." she sighed, looking down at the ground uncomfortably. "Lara, you're exhausted" Kurtis said. Strike two. He didn't mean to imply that Lara was acting like this because she was tired – she must've thought it, but she pushed it away.

Lara looked back up at him. Those blue eyes had a strange effect on her. There was something about them; something that hypnotised her. It was something that made Kurtis addictive to her. If she wasn't close to him for a certain period of time, she would feel empty. Kurtis locked onto Lara's gaze, staring into her own set of beautiful eyes. He could see the want filtering in them, and he tried his hardest not to snap.

But the closeness between them, it was driving them both insane. They could feel each other's breath, feel the other's body heat, could _hear _their heartbeats getting faster by the second, the shortness of space driving both of them mad. Words failed both of them.

And they both snapped.

Kurtis leant down, catching Lara's lips with his own. Lara reached her arms up around his neck, kissing him passionately. She forced her tongue into his mouth, kissing him with ferocity, as if she weren't even controlling her won body. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. She responded equally, wrapping her arms around his muscular biceps hidden underneath his top, feeling the pulsating warmth beneath it. They were exploring erupting feelings; feelings that had been eating away at them for months, and, for once in her life, Lara felt emotions taking over.

She leaned into him, shoving him back up against the wall, afraid that if these feelings that had been left for so long weren't resurrected soon, it would eat her alive. She smiled against Kurtis' lips as she reconciled in the sensation of being near him again – being able to feel his lips against hers. They broke apart for air, before quickly crushing their mouths against one another's. Kurtis lifted Lara up and walked towards the bed, toppling over her, suspending himself with the strength of his arms. They broke apart again, and Lara's gaze locked onto his. "What's wrong?" he whispered.

Lara laughed in return, bringing his lips down to meet hers again. Of course there was nothing wrong! She thought that months ago, in Paris, when he left, she would never see him again, let alone be in this place with him again. But she had to tell him. She had said it many times before, but now, she really knew what the words meant. "I love you." she smiled.

Kurtis gazed down at her, before he grinned back, catching her lips once again. These feelings had been left unnoticed for too long, and now, both Lara and Kurtis were exploding to show each other how they felt. These emotions couldn't be left alone any more. She had said it, and she truly meant it. She had said it from time and time again, but this time was the only time she felt she _truly _meant it, like it was the first time she realized how much she loved Kurtis. She had somebody by her side, someone as strong as her, both physically and mentally. She kissed him once again, replaying the three words over and over again in her head.

* * *

**FINALLY! L and K are together again! XD**

**Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to the lovely Alice (trjunepearl). You've been an wonderful friend over the past few months, and we like OBSESS over Tomb Raider and Lara/Kurtis, this is for you :-D**

**(With the walk button down, I won't fall off; even if you try to make me.....go on, try it XD)**


	16. Placement

**AN: Glad to see you liked the last chapter ;-D **

* * *

Lara sighed softly as she turned over in her bed, pulling the duvet on her bed up over her shoulders. Somehow, she felt....safe. For many mornings before, she had woken up and felt nothing but fear for the day ahead, knowing that she would be forced to run from Karel and push herself to the limits to find the artefacts that they needed to stop him. But now; she just wanted to stay where she was – in a happy place. For many reasons. All she wanted to do was snuggle up in the warm bed covers, and seize to exist until she was ready to face what the day held. Light from the window shined in, managing to soar into the dark room from the slit between the elegant curtains. It was still dark – because of winter closing in – but there was a rather bright lamppost located in the street outside of her room. She smiled as she heard a sigh behind her, and a pair of strong, yet soft arms tighten around her waist. Her eyes fluttered open as she gazed down at the familiar hands wrapped around her, noticing the gold ring she had always hated placed on a finger. His breath was hot on the back of her neck, and it sent shivers chasing up and down her spine, overtaking each other to make her cave in to the sensation of Kurtis Trent being near her.

She closed her eyes again, screwing them shut against the light, trying to block it out. All she wanted to do was stay in this blissful place. All she wanted to do was stay in Kurtis' arms forever. Too long; she had waited too long to be here again. But the question was; was she going to be able to think she could be with him again, or would he leave again? She didn't know, and she didn't want to. Not right now. She just wanted to keep him close, and thank herself that she was with him now. She smiled again, feeling Kurtis rub her stomach, securing his grip around her more. He pulled her closer to him, until her back was up against his chest. His breathe became heavier on her neck as he leaned over, trailing kisses from her neck and throat, down to her shoulders. She relaxed into his touch, turning over onto her side and opening her eyes to look at him again. He smiled as he brought his lips from her neck to her mouth, pulling away and leaving the taste of Lara's full lips lingering on his mouth.

She smiled back, settling down into the bed again, this time lying on her side so she faced Kurtis. He wrapped his arms around her again, and Lara rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes. Kurtis sighed, stroking the hair away from her face. A few minuets later, Lara opened her eyes again, looking up at the cheap alarm clock on one of the bedside cabinets. It was only 4AM.

She felt Kurtis' chest rising and falling with the breathes he inhaled and exhaled. She felt his heart pound in his chest, and that was when she realised that their heartbeats were in sync. It had taken a near death experience for them to get back together. _Something that doesn't happen often,_ Lara sighed in her mind. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she just accept that she was here with Kurtis again; where she had wanted to be for so long that it actually hurt her? Because she never lived in the moment – that's why. She just doubted whether he would stick around or not, but she couldn't bring herself to ask. She crammed her neck to look up at him, and he opened his eyes as he felt the movement, also looking at her.

Time had not made her immune to the perfection of his face. Her eyes traced over his attractive features: His strong jaw line and the softer curve of his thin lips – twisted up into a smile now - were the first thing she noticed. The straight line of his nose, the sharp angle of his cheekbones. She scanned up his cheeks, until she noticed the line of a scar just below his right eye, stretching from the middle of his cheek to the end of his eye. She took a hand up and softly stroked over the scar, her touch soft on his skin. She saved his eyes for last, knowing that when she looked into them she was likely to lose her train of thought. They were wide, warm with liquid blue, and framed by the hair that fell onto his face. Staring into his eyes had always made her feel extraordinary – something nobody else had ever made her feel like before.

Kurtis gazed back into her own eyes, taking in their chocolatey brown colour, locking eyes with her. He moved one of his hands over to Lara's – which was still over his scar – entwining his fingers with her own. "What happened?" Lara whispered, bringing her hand back down, their fingers still interlocked. Kurtis looked away for a moment, before turning back to her. "Depression in my early twenties. Nothing to worry about, really." he passed over it easily. "_You_ did this to yourself?" she asked. "I didn't do it to myself. I spent my nights at random bars _during _my depression. I would cause fights, thinking I was all 'it' until one guy showed me straight. Ended up with surgery." he ran his finger down the scar with his free hand, pointing to the end of it where the puncture wound was. "Broken beer bottle."

Lara cringed at the thought, but she passed over it. She stroked the scar again before she lay back down, ready to drift off to sleep, but she opened her eyes when Kurtis spoke again. "I'm sorry, Lara." he sighed softly. "For what?" she asked quietly, not moving.

"For leaving you," he sighed again, "I shouldn't have done so."

"Yes, you were quite the idiot, Mr Trent." she chuckled quietly. "But I was." he smiled half heartedly. "We've all done stupid things in the past," she glanced up at him, "But it's whether we make up for our mistakes or not that matters." she yawned, pulling the covers closer to her body. Kurtis stared down at her for a while, watching as she became peaceful, on the verge of falling asleep. He leaned over, kissing Lara on the top of her head before he leaned back into his pillow, "I'm not leaving again. I love you too much."

Lara smiled to herself, her eyes still closed as she tightened her grip around him. Minuets later, she was asleep again in Kurtis' arms, a place where she had doubted she would ever be again.

* * *

It was only around an hour later, before the sun had risen and darkness still filled the sky, when Kurtis awoke again. He shifted beneath the covers, turning to find Lara lying next to him, still fast asleep. Her hair fell lightly across her face, still tied up loosely in its braid. For the first time since Kurtis had met her; she looked peaceful.

He smiled, planting a lingering kiss upon her bare shoulder before slipping out of bed. Soon he was outside on the balcony, fully dressed and lighting up a cigarette. He took a long drag and exhaled the smoke, leaning forwards on the railing, screwing up his eyes and running a hand over his fatigued face.

Last night may have been the greatest in his life, and yet he was feeling restless, tense and not just a little but fearful. In only a few hours, they would be in Spain, getting what they needed before moving on to finding the next artefact. That meant that tomorrow was the night they would find the actual sword fragment, which meant they only had a few precious days left until they went to Cappadocia.

He sighed, letting the cigarette hand loosely from his lips. He truly could not remember how long it had been since he was not living with the threat of death hanging over his head. Perhaps living on the edge had seemed exciting at first, but it was many, many years since he had been a young, stupid teenager joining the Foreign Legion. Years of combat, death and fear had taken it toll, and he really did feel as though he wouldn't make it through the next few days.

If they did manage to get the artefacts and keep them under lock and key, what then? This was only one way to opening the portal, and no doubt Karel would find another way to do so. It was only delaying his plans. And soon enough, they would be on the run again, living in constant fear of discovery. Kurtis seriously doubted that Karel would let Lara live if they were caught, and he could not bare the thought of losing her...

Not after last night.

He took the cigarette from his mouth, letting some of the ash gathered at the end drop to the floor. He sighed, letting it drop to the floor fully. He needed a break. As much as he wanted Karel dead, he just couldn't bare the risks it brought with it – loosing Morgan again, having to fight to the death. Or worse. Loosing Lara. He crumpled the discarded cigarette under his boot, squashing it onto the stone floor of the balcony of yet _another _one of Mason's houses. _How many does one guy need? _He mused.

He strained his eyes as he looked up at the Scottish countryside, taking in it's beauty – or what he could make out of it. It was still early in the morning, and the sun still hadn't risen. He turned around from the scenery, heading back into the bedroom. He smiled as he glanced over at Lara as he made his way over to the door, her peacefulness still surprising him. He stood there for a while; just looking at her. He felt a smile tug at his lips as he exited the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

* * *

Morgan stared up at the ceiling of her bedroom for that day. _Another bedroom,_ she thought. In these past few days, she had slept in more beds than what she had all over her childhood. She guessed that's what came when you were wealthy. Or had wealthy family members, at least. Not that she knew what it was like to have a family that cared. She had given up thinking her family cared long ago. And Kurtis keeping a secret like this from her didn't help. She turned over onto her front, shoving her face into her pillow. She gripped her hands into fists, pulling at the bottom sheet of the bed, twisting it as her hushed screams escaped her lips. She turned around again, screaming at her anger as she battered the mattress of the bed, thudding her balled fists against them.

She had never been good enough for anyone. She had blocked herself out from the outside world a few years ago, and her best friend was the only one who found a way in. She had died. And it was all Morgan's fault. Her best friend had committed suicide. Committed a crime. Ended her own life. She had told Morgan about all her troubles, but she brushed over them. It was when she started self harming, that she knew she should have listened. Days later – she had been found in the orphanage's bathroom; two cuts on each of her wrists. This had sent Morgan spiralling out of control.

This one girl who had gotten in was taken away from her in an instant. And if Morgan had only registered her calls for help, then she might still be here now. She was the only one who understood what Morgan went through with her physic abilities – the only person she ever trusted to tell. And so it was the most difficult thing for her to do to hold it all in after her death. It's like one more person had been plucked away from her life. Everyone in her life that ever mattered was dead. And it stayed that way; not matter what. She wasn't going to include Kurtis in her life – he had already made that decision years ago. The Kurtis she knew now may be alive; but her _brother_ Kurtis – he was dead to her.

Lies upon lies, just stacked up against each other. And to keep them hidden, you had to lie again. And again. Everything was a lie. Always a lie. How was she supposed to react when someone told her they cared? She thought of it as a lie – because everything else was. Cowards. That's what they all were. They were _afraid _to tell her the truth, so they ran away from it. And they didn't think she would find out? Nobody's that good. In the end; if she didn't find out herself, they would face the guilt trip and tell her themselves. It made her wonder how many lies had been fed to her over the years. If so many things were merely imaginary – made up by someone else for her 'benefit' – then how would she know what to believe? She wouldn't, that's what. She was better off on her own, relying on nobody but herself; that way, she would never get hurt.

Her family was dead, and she was alone. She had _always _been alone. Sure, Kurtis _may_ be her brother, but to her, it didn't matter any more. Keeping a secret like that, it was a lie. And she _hated _liars. No matter who they were, they were fakes. And it didn't matter whether they were lying for the well being of someone else, educational purposes, or just to prove something to someone else, it was _still _lying. So many people had lied to her. Too many to name. And now they were paying back for their choices.

Unwanted thoughts entered her mind, and her eyes snapped open, sitting straight up. _No_, she thought, trying to slap herself away from these feelings, _don't think like that._

She passed over it; assuming the thoughts may have just been in the spur of the moment. She would _never _do something like that. It was never the answer. And it wasn't Morgan; no matter how depressed she was at the moment.

Her mind wandered back to her "brother". Kurtis hadn't even confirmed it. Hell – she doubted he even had any clue that she knew. He seemed to be speechless when she told him she knew, as if he had no idea what she was talking about. But she could at least hear him out. He could at least explain why he had left – he owed her that much.

She felt so angry, as if she had been let down by everyone she knew. Mason – he was the only living relative she knew about, and he hadn't mentioned anything like this. He always seemed like an honest man, someone who dressed sensibly, took care of themselves and looked out for other people. "A man from a catalogue," her mother would say at these types of men. A man with a descent personality, wasn't cocky and arrogant, and was attractive and sexy at the same time. Yes, a man from a catalogue, indeed. Morgan had trusted him, and he threw it back in her face. Lying wasn't Mason; it was far away from his usual expectations. He would _never_ lie. Maybe he thought it was for her own well being that he keep something so important as this hidden from her. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe he thought it wasn't his place to tell; because it had nothing to do with him. Her mother and father – _never_ had they even mentioned the slight possibility of her having a sibling. More _lies_.

She screwed her eyes shut, wiping the sleep away from them before she dragged her eyes across the room until they landed on the clock on her dressing table. 5 AM. She should still be asleep – or at least get _some _sleep. She hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night, because her mind was troubled with the haunting thought of her why nobody had told her she had a sibling. At least she was back home, in Scotland. _There's one positive thing,_ she rolled her eyes. She lifted her bed covers off her body, sitting herself on the edge of her bed. Closing her eyes again, she rested her head in her hands, digging her elbows into the flesh of her legs, her pyjamas being simple shorts and a top with mid-length sleeves. She opened them again, grabbing a bobble from her bedside cabinet. She wandered over to her mirrored wardrobe, scraping her messy hair back into a ponytail before she pulled the bobble over it, tightening it afterwards. She sighed as she tucked stray strands of hair behind her ears, only for them to fall back out again. Turning away from the mirror, she grabbed a sweatshirt that was scattered at the end of her bed, pulling it over her shoulders. She shivered as she left it unzipped, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

She walked over to the door, pulling it open and she stepped out into the pitch black hall, the only light coming in from the moon that shone into the huge windows at the top of the grand stairs, leading down to the main hall. She silently closed the door behind her, walking along the length of the dark hall, looking at Lara's door on the way, before she looked down over the banister, taking in the design and ornaments of the main hall. She rested her hand on the banister, making her way down the stairs.

She sighed as she walked over to the kitchen, finding the place covered in darkness. She slapped her hand against the wall, searching for a light switch which could illuminate the room, clicking it up and down once she found it. She tried to light the room up, to no avail. "Power cut," she guessed, feeling her way over to the sink. She turned the cold tap on, letting the water run. Then, she opened the cupboard above it, trying to grab a glass as she peered up, adjusting her eyes to the darkness. Happy that she had found a glass, she pulled it out, pulling her hand back as her finger sliced on a chip. The glass smashed to the floor. "Shit," she breathed, bending down to the cupboard under the sink, grabbing a dustpan and a brush. She turned around as she squatted down, sweeping the broken glass up.

She paused and brought her head up as a pair of legs found themselves in front of her, and traced them back to their owner. She sighed as she recognised his face within the darkness. Kurtis. She stood up, the shovel still in her hand, "What some help?" he asked, taking the item out of her hand, moving her out of the way so he could bend down, sweeping the glass up himself. Morgan sighed, sitting herself at the square table in the corner of the room. "I guess you're giving me it whether I like it or not," she rolled her eyes, grunting as she sat down. Kurtis stood up after throwing the pieces of glass in the bin. He took two more glasses out of the cupboard, turning around to face Morgan, "You want a fresh glass?" he asked, turning around again and filling his own glass up. "Well, no-ooooo, I was just planning on drinking from the glass on the floor," she replied sarcastically. Kurtis groaned under his breath, filling up both glasses regardless of Morgan's comment. "You can act the tough teen all you want, Morgan, but it doesn't make a difference to the-"

Morgan rudely cut Kurtis off, "To the people who know me?" she finished for him. "You know _nothing_ about me." she said harshly, through gritted teeth.

She peered up at Kurtis as he sat down opposite her, pushing the water towards her. Kurtis ignored her comment once again, as silence filled the room. "You OK, kid?" he asked, finishing off his beverage.

"Don't patronise me," she scoffed, keeping her eyes trained on his, "I'm more mature than you. I didn't run away from the truth."

Kurtis instantly knew what she was talking about. He leaned back in the chair, running a hand through his hair, setting his gaze somewhere else, "So Karel told you....?" he said, bringing his eyes back to her face. "More than I wanted to know, yes." she replied coldly. Kurtis leaned forward, pushing his cup out of the way, "I'm sorry Morgan. I would have told you, but I didn't know how to." he excused himself.

"It would have helped if you hadn't left in the first place." she stood up, "Feeling guilty all of a sudden? Good." she moved away from the table, dumping her glass next to the sink as she made her way for the door. She didn't feel like talking to him just now. A scuffle behind her told her Kurtis had also stood up, and she felt his hand grip her forearm. She looked down, shaking herself free of his grip, "Sorry. I was a coward, and I'll admit to that." he said.

Morgan snorted as she turned around on her heel, leaning on one leg as she crossed her arms over her chest, "It's a little late to start acting like a big brother, Kurtis. Fifteen years too late." she waited for him to answer. "You don't know why I left. You know _nothing _of it. Hell; _Mason_ doesn't even know!" he shouted.

"You should have told me," she said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She turned around, ready to go back to her bed. "What was I going to do? Track down some random teenager and tell her she was my sister? I had no idea of your whereabouts until recently, Morgan. You have to understand I had my reasons."

"But you still waited until everyone else in out family was dead." the tears began to drip from her eyes, "You left me thinking I had nobody!" she turned around, watching as Kurtis carefully walking towards her, "How am I supposed to take all this in? I meet a guy, and a week later, I'm being told he's my brother!"

Kurtis sighed again as he took a step closer to Morgan, "Look. I can't act like I was there for you for all those years because I wasn't. And I can't say that I feel like I didn't do that right thing for you. You were just a child, and you were in the middle of a war! I saved your life by leaving you with Mason; I left you with a better life than you could have ever gotten if you were involved in the war during the Lux and the Cabal. I can't say I was there for you then; but I can be here for you now. You just have to trust me." he said, stepping closer again. He looked down at her from the advantage of his height, and Morgan locked eyes with him. Soon enough, she ran up to him, tears running down her cheeks as Kurtis embraced his sister.

He held her closely, feeling awkward in the situation he was in. He may have ran away years before, but now he knew what he ran away from. Morgan had been strangely open, only fighting back for a few moments before she excepted his explination for leaving. Except, she had only heard half of it. He knew there would still be more questions – why he _really_ left, how much danger they were in and what her parents were truly like. But deep down, there was still guilt there.

* * *

Lara awakened a few hours Later, the sun's warmth creeping into the room. She groaned as she rolled over, the soreness still in her body from yesterday. And she had a pounding headache to match it.

Kurtis wasn't in the room. Lara assumed he's already risen, showered, and was walking about in the house – house? Where exactly was she? Kurtis hadn't explained who's house they were staying at the night before. She rose as quickly as she could, dressing herself, and slowly opening the door to peer down the hall. The place was monstrous – perhaps the same size as Croft Manor. She quietly made her way to the stairs that led to the first floor, hearing voiced down below.

She walked down the stairs, her braid slapping against her back. She smiled politely as she entered the dining room, Mason returning the gesture from where he stood beside Morgan, the teen almost asleep. She looked over to Zip and Alister who sat near where the was standing, tucking into a Sunday brunch. "Good morning, Lara," Alister smiled, sounding cheery as he set his knife and fork down. "Good sleep?" he asked.

Zip merely smirked.

Lara sat herself down, looking at the layout of food. "What's this?" she asked, looking up at Mason who came to her side. "Just a little breakfast to cheer the mood up," he smiled, placing two fried eggs on her plate, "I was raised by women," he said, "This stuff was like a second nature to me growing up. I guess it paid off." he chuckled. Lara looked down at her plate after saying thank-you before she looked up at the group again. Mason, Morgan, Zip and Alister. Where was Kurtis? She looked up in time to see him entering the room, eating a slice of toast. He pulled it away from his lips and smiled, and smile that made her insides melt. She smiled back before she looked back to the plate in front of her. "We have some more useful information for you, Lara." Zip said after a few minuets of silence. Lara stood up, picking her plate up with her. "Shoot," she said as she walked through the open door to the kitchen and back, leaving the plate in the other room. "We're going to Cappadocia for definite." he sighed, "There's some underground tunnel there, that the Hebrews believed were where the Nephilim were sent to. The truth is – there's irregular activity. A time lapse, if you will. A portal can be opened." he said.

"And a time lapse has what to do with this?" she asked.

"Nothing. It's a cover story. Nobody knows what paranormal events happen there, so excavations were carried out. The archaeologists never found anything."

"But I'm no normal archaeologist," Lara reminded him.

"Yes, indeed." Alister said, "But we believe that this portal can be opened with the box of Heissturm. Only, there may not only be one box," he sighed.

Kurtis walked closer to the group, "I heard about that. Some guy in Turkey knew my father, and apparently he was entrusted with a second box. I thought he was talking bull, seen as I didn't want anything to do with the Lux at the time." he said.

"Yes, but we'll worry about the second box when we come to it. We still need the other artefacts before we have a chance of stopping Karel."

"So Spain's next?" Lara asked. "Yes." Mason said, "We need to get the other sword fragments before we even think about Cappadocia."

"Okay, then. Are we all going in to this museum, or just Kurtis and I?" Lara asked.

"It's completely up to you," Mason said, "But either way we'll have full contact with you through headsets."

"They didn't do so well last time," Lara heard Kurtis mutter under his breath. "Here's hoping you enjoy Spain, shall we? You'll be leaving via private jet tomorrow morning." he said, rather matter-of-factly.

Lara watched as everyone else exited the room – save from Kurtis -; attending to their duties for tomorrow. And Morgan presumably getting some rest. She sighed as she leaned across the table, gathering the breakfast plates. She turned around and startled as she felt Kurtis press his lips to hers, pulling away a few seconds later, before she had the chance to return the kiss. She opened her eyes and looked up to him, a smile across his face, "What was that for?" she smiled. "We've been apart for four months, I'm just making up for lost time." he smirked, exiting the room.

* * *

**AN: Nothing seriously interesting going on in this chapter, but we'll get back to the action next week :-) And the week after that, we've FINALLY got a tomb!!!!**


	17. Second Glances

**AN: Hmmm....I may have lied....a small bit....when I said I would update every Monday, huh? Because I'm epically (an epic word, remember, Alice? Haha) failing at it. So since I seem to be marvelling on other things instead of getting my head down and writing, I promise not to do it again. I've been doing other important things *cough* playing video games and being lazy *cough*. So, since I seem to be updating on Wednesdays instead of Mondays....see where I'm goin' with this? I'll update on Wednesdays!!! :-) So keep that in your head, kay? WEDNESDAYS!!! **

****DISCLAIMER: I do not, whatsoever, own any of the content in this chapter. Lara and Kurtis don't belong to me, and neither does Tomb Raider itself. They all belong to their respectful owners: Eidos/Square Enix, Core (FTW) and Crystal Dynamics. ****

**So without further ado, here you go!!! **

* * *

Lara gripped the overhead bar as the chopper landed in Portugal, swaying as she let go. She made her way over to the pilot, giving him her thanks before she grabbed her backpack, following Kurtis off the helicopter. She looked around at the scenery that surrounded her; she had instructed the pilot to land in a jungle atmosphere, near enough to the temple so that it was in walking distance, but far enough away so that no tourists were suspicious of Lara and Kurtis' meanings of being there. She looked up as the chopper took off the ground, waving a goodbye to the pilot. She marvelled at the beauty of her surroundings: green leaves covered trees, dry dirt on the ground, flowers hanging on bushes here and there; it was truly breathtaking. She turned towards Kurtis, who was gazing around the view, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "It isn't everyday you see something as beautiful as this," Lara sighed, taking in their peaceful surroundings. "And if Karel gets his way, nobody will get to see something like this," he sighed. "Well lets not let that happen," Lara said simply, trying to hide the fear in her voice. But Kurtis was right; if Karel got his way, there wouldn't be any _humans_ left, never mind certain scenery. The man was deluded – and there was no doubt about it.

She turned away from him, brushing off some dirt that had covered the toe of her boot. She trekked forwards, pushing some bushes to the side. A shuffle behind her told her that Kurtis was following. She glared up at the sun, shielding her face with her hand as sweat dripped from her forehead, the temperature rising suddenly. She glanced backwards as Kurtis caught up with her, rolling his white elbow length undershirt's sleeves up farther. "It's bloody roasting," he muttered, now walking at her side. "For autumn, anyway"

"Welcome to Portugal." Lara smiled. A few minuets later, they exited the jungle, and found themselves in an extremely busy area. Buses were parked outside of a large, stone pyramid-like building, tourists flooding in and out of the structure, both racing to get to their buses and running to get into the temple in time for the next tour. A fountain was in the middle of the car park, a shallow circle pool surrounding it. The scene was a perfect holiday one, and Lara supposed that it wasn't just for the temple that people came here. Not that far away was a hotel, and the owners were obviously no idiots, seen as it was located right next to a grand tourist location.

She took her backpack off her shoulders, removing her pistols from their holsters. She placed them in her bag – along with her holsters – and then strapped her backpack back on, Kurtis taking the hint and doing the same. They didn't want to frighten anyone...yet.

They both started forward, weaving their ways in and out of the parked cars, until they came to the bottom of the stairs that made their way up to the temple. Kurtis stopped again, lifting his navy blue t-shirt over his head, leaving his undershirt where it was. "This is a family place, Kurtis, is it really relevant to take your top off?" she smiled. He dusted off his undershirt, rolling his sleeves up farther. "When it's this hot, yes. I'm not making any promises that the other one will stay on." he said. His tone was serious, but his expression wasn't doing him any favours.

Lara rolled her eyes as she continued, also taking her fingerless gloves off, putting them in her bag. _God, it's roasting,_ she thought as she began to walk up the stairs, refusing certain leaflets from tour guides that were standing in certain spots on the stairs. Kurtis absent mindedly accepted each one he was offered, and soon enough he had a bundle of papers in his hands. They must have looked like any other couple. Lara in front, sweating from the heat of the sun as she stopped every so often and waited for Kurtis, smiling like she had been blessed with riches each time he looked up at her. Kurtis lagging behind her, scanning through leaflets that he accepted; not even knowing that he was doing it. His white undershirt clung to his chest, outlining his toned body. Every time he looked up to see Lara, she was always there to greet him with a smile, and he returned one back immediately, and any on-lookers could see how much they cared for each other greatly in the way their eyes met. It was obvious to anyone that they were in love. Just another couple that were in love touring; on holiday. But they weren't 'just another couple'. And they weren't touring. They weren't here for the sights.

Lara waited for Kurtis to catch up, and then they walked up the rest of the stairs. Kurtis had taken Lara's hand about halfway up the stairs, and Lara had gripped it tightly, like she would never get to have him close again. An elderly couple had come up behind them, and it wasn't hard to tell that they were both tourists and had admiration for Lara and Kurtis. The lady of the two hadn't made a big deal to lower her voice when she spoke, saying, "What a lovely couple they made" and then how "They looked so happy together".

Kurtis had listened into their little conversation, Lara just smiling – embarrassed. In fact, Kurtis wondered if it could be called a 'conversation'. The lady was the only one who had been talking, low grunts from her husband as a reply. Soon enough, the couple overtook them, the lady turning back and smiling before they walked off. Kurtis rolled his eyes as they both came to the top, Lara taking a map of the halls of the temple to help them through. Their link at their hands dropped as they entered the first room, noting that all it was was a food court and a gift shop – nothing of any interest.

Kurtis took the map from Lara's hands, taking his backpack off and placing it at his feet. "Any idea where it may be?" Lara asked, gazing around the room. "Not a clue," he sighed, folding the map and placing it in the back pocket of those awful khaki trousers that he always wore, "This doesn't say anything," he looked over as a woman in a blue skirt and matching blazer passed, holding a clipboard. A head of ginger hair was tied up into a bun, held together by a number of curbie grips, and a hair band on the top of her head sat there, plainly decorating her stunning hair colour. A group of people followed her, noisily passing through the room . Kurtis nodded towards the group, picking his back up again, "Looks like we're going on a tour," he walked forwards, slumping his back over one shoulder as he joined the back of the group. Lara sighed, following after him. She hated tour guides. Always perky and happy. Acting like nothing in the world was never wrong. And when they became angry, they would plaster their faces in a fake smile, speaking through gritted teeth. _Ugh._

They had passed through what seemed like endless amounts of halls, listening to the perky tour guide go on about the history of the Mayans – both in Portuguese and English. Lara could have told the group all the information in a varied number of languages, and still have done it all quicker than her. She groaned as the guide stopped them all again. She just wanted to get everything over and done with. It was like they were waiting – waiting for Karel to find the rest of the artefacts before them. Like sitting ducks, even. Lara wasn't one to sit and wait, she _made_ things happen – not _wait_ for things to happen. She heard a laugh and then remembered she was wearing her headset. A few seconds later, Zip spoke through, "_Getting a little impatient, Lara?" _it didn't sound like he was asking her a question.

Lara sighed as the group began to move on, and smiled as she set her eyes on something she thought would help them find what they needed. She broke away from the group – Kurtis soon following – making her way over to the west wall, scanning over a brief display case and poster. It wasn't what they were looking for, but it was some information on it. In fact, when they found what they were trying to find here, it _still _wasn't what they were looking for; it was only a replica of the sword fragment. She glanced out of the corner of her eye as Kurtis joined her by her side.

Lara scanned over the poster above her, briefly reading the small amount of information it held. It showed a small sketch of a sword, and then lines showing it split into four. An arrow led out to a paragraph of text on one of the pieces of the sword. Moving her eyes down to the display case, she saw a foam replica of the sword. Looking at the poster again, it told her that the sword wasn't in the main touring route of the temple. It was higher up, at the top of the temple, and they only toured that area once every so often. They were going to have to get near without anyone knowing. She turned away, "Only one of us can go get it," Kurtis pointed out, "I'll stop anyone from going up there if you go and get it."

"It sounds fair to me." she turned back to the group, seemingly deep in thought. With a sigh, she walked over to the group, taking part in the tour again. _"Well, well, well. Who would've thought? Lara Croft _does_ have some sociable instincts!" _Zip joked on the other end. Him, Alister, Mason and Morgan were still in Edinburgh, and Lara and Kurtis were going to get what they needed in Europe. Lara tried to hold her impatience in as she waited for the tour guide to move onto the next room. It happened no time soon.

As she felt she was going to die of boredom, the tour guide was challenged by someone near the front of the group. It was nothing she wanted to get into – and she couldn't be bothered paying attention to what they were talking about. She sighed again, rolling her eyes as she waited for their squabble to finish. "So how are you planning on making sure nobody sees me going up there?" Lara turned to Kurtis, trying to pass the time. "Something simple – I can just sit there and stop people going up the stairs. Flash my gun when someone gets tricky; I'll be fine." he said simply, looking over the room. Lara replied with a smile, and she placed a hand over her chest, where she had been shot the other day, feeling the rough patch of skin where the puncture wound was. She pressed down on it slightly, feeling the pain roar throughout her body as her unhealed wound threatened to bleed. She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. She could hardly remember anything from that night. Her only conscious memories was of finding something – she had no idea what; her memory was _that _bad – and then Gunderson coming behind her. Then all she felt was pain. But they were talking; Gunderson was talking with one of the mercenaries. And then Lara; like they were interrogating her in her final moments. After her first black out, she had came round again; just barely conscious. And then she thought she was dead.

She breathed in quickly as she felt a hand cover hers, and she opened her eyes to see Kurtis looking down at her. Slowly, she removed her hand, leaving her memories of the moment alone. "How badly was it bleeding when you found me?" she asked, looking down at the ground.

She could tell by Kurtis' tone that he wasn't comfortable, "You weren't bleeding. It had flowed out of you. You weren't breathing. You weren't moving." he tried to disguise how much it hurt him to say it, and to anyone else he would have done a good job. But Lara just knew him better than everyone else. There was a short pause before he spoke again, "You only had a faint pulse, and I was working on getting you breathing. Then someone came and knocked me out. When I woke up; you didn't have a pulse. It took a lot of energy to get you back."

Lara smiled gratefully at Kurtis explaining this to her. He was obviously hurting doing so, but she wanted to know. It was her body that had been harmed, after all. She began to walk again as the group made their way forward again, trying to forget the scar that was on her chest. Kurtis hadn't faltered at following by her side, ready to tell her anything that she asked. Lara sighed, "I won't ask any more."

In fact, for all she knew; getting shot could have been a _good_ thing. It had brought them back together, and that was something that she could only smile at. Being with Kurtis again – it was like she had died and gone to heaven. It was _that_ blissful to her.

A few minuets later; and they hadn't gotten any further. Lara gave up, raising her hand in the air. The tour guide smiled as she waited for Lara to speak, "I was wondering. The fragment of the Bamburugh Sword, where might one find it?"

"_That's the Lara we all know and love," _Zip chuckled. The tour guide chuckled slightly, and Lara had no idea what was so funny. "I'm afraid that you can only see the sword on certain tours, Miss, sorry to disappoint." she said, still holding a cheery voice, leading the group forward into a larger room.

"I wasn't asking to see it; I was asking _where_ it was." Lara said.

"At the top of the temple," her tone had changed flat, less patronising than her previous one, "It's our main tourist attraction, and the prize of many eyes. Semi-legal freelance archaeologists have had their many tries at taking it, so you can see why we're so cautious."

"I don't know why they go to so much trouble for something that's fake," She whispered to Kurtis. He just shrugged in return.

As they walked into a different room, Lara nudged Kurtis in the gut, nodding her head towards a stone stairwell. "Think that's how we get up?" he asked. "It's my best guess." she said. They both moved away from the group, pretending to take interest in other artefacts on display. Once the tour group had gone, they both walked over to the stairs, and Kurtis sat himself down on the third step, throwing his backpack against the ground. Lara sighed as she stepped over him, gripping the railing as she walked up the stairs. "I'll be five minuets tops." she promised. Kurtis looked up as she made her way up the steep staircase. "Don't worry; my ass needs a rest, anyway." he joked.

Lara looked down at him, shaking her head in amusement as a smile tugged at the corners of her lips before she continued upwards.

* * *

The room was incredibly plain and simple for something that was supposed to be 'the prize of many eyes'. As she stepped into the room, it was clear that it was nothing special. If anything – it was less eye-catching than the rest of the temple. The walls were plain cream concrete, the floor nothing but loosely placed grey tiles. If this was the main attraction of tourists every year, they could at least make an effort to make the place decent. The replica of the sword wasn't in a hiding place, it was right there up against the north wall. If there was so many people trying to take it all the time, then what was with the lack of security?

Lara walked over to the case, lifting the glass covering and reaching in, wrapping her hand around the sword. She pulled it out, carefully placing the glass down. _The HUGE lack of security, more __like, _she thought, turning her back on it. She threw it up in the air, easily catching it in the palm of her hand before throwing it up again. She stopped, however, as she heard a small buzzing noise, and her ears strained to recognise it. Her eyes widening, she turned around, her eyes darting to the bottom of the case. A small red laser beam flickered before it depleted, and soon a deafening alarm screeched throughout the building. She looked up into the corner of the room, seeing a CCTV camera zoom in on her image. She quickly turned around, sprinting down the stairs.

She put the sword in her backpack, skimming her hands over the railing and walls of the steps as she raced down them. She faltered, quickly catching her footing as she continued down them. She grunted quietly as she saw Kurtis at the bottom of the stairs, turning around and standing up as he heard her coming. He grabbed his bag as Lara got closer, jumping off the rest of the stairs, "We need to get out of here." she said, pushing him in front of her. He quickly took the hint and ran forwards, Lara hot on his heels. "They have better security than I thought," Lara said, overtaking Kurtis, who also sped up, now running at her side. They quickly raced through the other rooms, Lara smirking as she passed the quirky tour guide, who was staring at them with utter hatred.

She risked a glance backwards and then pressured her legs to carry her further as two security guards made their way from the services desk, first looking as if they weren't sure what to do, then realising Lara and Kurtis were a threat. She laughed lightly as they made it out of the building, passing the elderly couple who were behind them before. Kurtis looked back as the male of the two just turned to his wife, who in turn, shrugged.

He could see the bouncers catching up on them, so he sped up, and soon enough, they had reached the bottom of the stairs. Lara laughed as she saw two Norton Streetfighers parked in a 'reserved' space in the car park, and she quickly tapped into her headset, "Thank you, Zip."

Without hesitation, Lara and Kurtis jumped onto their bikes, revving them up and speeding away as they headed in the direction of the motorway with a direct route to Spain, sighing in relief as no body was pursuing them.

* * *

**AN: So, guess what? Next chapter, I'll be fulfilling the whole, "TOMB Raider" concept :-D If you get what I mean. There's a tomb!!! Yay!**

**Catch you then. Happy-Getting-Closer-To-Christmas-Time XD**


	18. Descendants

**AN: Late update...sorry :-(**

****Disclaimer: erm, yeah, not that much to it. I don't own anything in this story apart from the plot, Morgan and Mason. I wish I owned Tomb Raider, but I don't. Sucks, doesn't it?****

* * *

Throughout the rest of the day, the heat and glare of the sun hadn't changed as Lara and Kurtis completed their tiresome journey to Spain. If anything, the ball of fire billions of miles above them had only gotten hotter and fiercer, boiling the people below it. Night had now fallen, and the two adventurers were two of a little group of traffic that were travelling on the motorway, trying to get to their destination before they fell asleep on the bikes. It was now the early hours of the morning; and the bike ride was taking longer than Lara had anticipated. She watched as they passed another petrol station, speeding past it, Kurtis in the lane next to her. She quickly rubbed the sleep from her eyes before bringing her hand back down to the handle, gripping it tightly as she pulled over into a different lane. She looked back in her side mirror, getting a glimpse of Kurtis behind her, looking as tired as she was. Looking back at the road again, she traced a lane that separated from the motorway, leading off into a quieter dual carriageway. She looked back at him again before facing the front, pulling over to her farthest right to make the opening.

Seeing what she was doing, Kurtis followed behind her before slowing down, pulling off of the motorway and up the opening, Lara having done the same minuets earlier. Minuets later, Lara spotted a hotel, and she nodded her head in the direction, hoping Kurtis would take the hint. He did, and sped up until he was a few metres in front of her, and he broke off from the road, skidding to a halt in the middle of the hotel's empty car park. Lara followed, parking the bike in a vacant spot – something that wasn't too difficult, seen as their only seemed to be two other cars in the car park.

Kurtis got off his bike, Lara mirroring his actions, and they silently stalked towards the hotels front doors. Once they entered, the sight wasn't a surprise. A young hotel clerk sitting with his legs up on the desk, ankles crossed, reading a paper, didn't make any effort to look alive as they approached the desk. Mainly because the rest of the place was about as lively as a graveyard. Kurtis walked up to the desk as Lara went down and flopped down on one of the couches; expecting them to comfort her, make her relax, but instead, she was met with a stiff seat cushion, and dust rising from the couch at the same time. Regardless, she leaned her head on the back of the back rest, closing her eyes for a brief moment.

She opened them again and stood up, hearing Kurtis walk over to her. "Tired?" he asked, chuckling lightly. "Just a tad." she laughed, picking her backpack up from her feet. Kurtis smiled, sighing at the same time. He gripped the keys in his hand before twirling them over his finger with the loop of metal that connected the key to the number that was printed on a cheap, silver keyring. He kept doing so as they made their way to the end of the hall, stopping as they came upon their room for that night. He made one final swirl before throwing the keys up in the air as they flew off the end of his finger, catching them again and unlocking the door. "Show off." Lara muttered. He just laughed lightly in return.

As soon as she walked into the room, the only thing Lara seemed to notice was the bed up against the wall in the centre of the room. There was surprisingly decent décor in the room, supposing the rest of the place wasn't that well kept. She briefly scanned over the rest of the room, her eyes landing on the neatly furnished desk in the corner of the room, a small lamp on top of it. She looked to her side, where a door was that led to a bathroom, a gleaming shower within it. She turned back to the bed, looking away from it when she spotted a window, it's curtains widely open, revealing a beautiful beach, the stars above it illuminating the water below, casting the moons reflection off it.

She took her bag from her shoulders, dumping it at the foot of the bed. She wandered over to the window, opening the curtains up further and also the window, letting the fresh air flow into the room. She leaned against the window frame, a click of a door in the background suggesting Kurtis had closed the rooms door behind them. Sighing as she closed her eyes again, she felt stray strands of hair that had fallen from her trademark braid flow in the wind. It was relaxing, and for a minuet she forgot about why she was here. The scent of the sea air invaded her nostrils, and she smiled against the cool breeze that floated towards her. She heard another click of a door, and turned around to see that Kurtis had entered the bathroom. She turned back, sighing in bliss at this rare moment. She knew that in the morning, she would be back on one of her adventures, so she decided to make the best of it. She felt her eyes close again, and figured she could just fall asleep there. She heard a shuffle behind her, and glanced out the corner of her eye to see Kurtis come up to her, also leaning against the window.

She watched as a smile tugged at the corner of his lips as his gaze darted about the scenery in front of them. Lara turned back to the view outside before tucking loose strands of hair behind her ears, "It's so calm and peaceful here." Kurtis whispered, his voice barely audible. "And it's a shame it never lasts," Lara finished for him, stepping back from the window. She sighed, screwing her eyes shut. "There's never any peace any more," she said, inhaling deeply before erupting her breath in a sigh, turning away from the window. Kurtis watched her as she moved, Lara sitting herself on the edge of the bed. "If all goes well, there won't be anybody to wreck the peace." he said, watching as Lara slipped her boots off. She yawned, pulling herself under the thick covers. "Maybe, but I need my rest." she said quietly, pulling the covers over her shoulders. Kurtis turned around, pulling the curtains shut, but leaving the window open so that a small breeze could come through to the room.

Lara watched as he walked over to the other side of the bed, also kicking his boots off. In one swift motion, he lifted his top up over his head, and Lara couldn't help but smile at his bare chest. He lifted the covers up, lying under them before pulling them up over his body. He turned on his side, looking at Lara as she turned to face him. He tried to search her eyes, but every time their gaze met, she seemed to move it somewhere else, like she was looking around the room, accidentally locking eyes with Kurtis now and again. He took hold of her forearm, wrapping his gentle grip around it. Lara shivered at his touch. She looked up at him, and he narrowed his eyes at her, "What's wrong?" he asked. She slowly brought her eyes up to his, locking onto his gaze. "Places like these; I've always been so futile to recognise their beauty. I only stay in one place for so long, and I'm always on the move. I've always been so determined to get my job done." she said.

"Who said that was a bad thing?"

"Maybe that's what's wrong. Maybe I shouldn't be doing what I do. Before, I couldn't help but love the things I did, and I never felt insecure when I held my guns in my hands, facing the enemy. But Karel..." she let her sentence trail off. "It's not as if I can kill him with one swift aim of a bullet. He's _immortal._" she laughed without humour. "How the hell am I supposed to _not_ be afraid when I'm facing someone who can't die?"

"We're all scared," Kurtis sighed, moving his hand along her arm until he gripped Lara's hand in his own. "For once, you're not in this alone. You've got people to help you do this. Karel isn't just _your_ problem, he's gotten all of us involved. We feel the need to kill that bastard as much as you do."

Lara laughed despite herself. "I know you're right...it's just that...he's not another enemy...he's _the _enemy. The most dangerous one I've came across in my years of raiding. And I can't think of a way to get rid of him."

"The burden isn't on you to think of a way out of us; Alister and Mason are trying the best they can to find out exactly where that underground passage in Cappadocia is, we have the easiest job right now. Don't stress out."

"But I can't do _anything._" she argued, "I'm disposable. I'm one person who's doing the most work, and I'm not Lux. I can try the best I can, but in the end, I know that it comes down to you three to finish him off. I don't like the thought of not being able to do anything." she looked down at the sheets.

"Will you stop saying that you don't matter in this. I don't see Mason and Morgan running around trying to stop him, do you? You may not be able to do much, but it's not your fight." he opened his arms up, and Lara moved over, leaning her head on his chest as he closed his arms around her, holding her close. "It's not my fight, yet." she said quietly.

"We don't know what's happening once we find everything we need and once we find the location of the portal. For all we know, we might just need to sit in front of it all day, hoping that Karel and his men don't show up. Once we get the sword and shield, we're running blind. We need you just as much as we need everyone else." Kurtis reasoned.

He kissed the top of her head, and Lara closed her eyes, smiling at the sensation of being in Kurtis' arms, feeling his heat radiating off him. She fell asleep within minuets, ready for what lay ahead the next day.

* * *

After separate showers and a quick breakfast, Lara and Kurtis were on the road again, Zip having giving them the coordinates of the tomb they were searching for. Soon enough, they parked their bikes next to a bundle of ruins, closer to the beach they had been marvelling the night before. After they parked their bikes as close to the ruins as possible, the only thing that they could seem to hear were the waves, bashing against the cliffs that stopped them from carrying onto the land. The _swishes_ of the waves moving brought peace towards the two adventurers, and they had headed towards the place with a clear mind. "This shouldn't take any longer than it needs to," Lara said, "Zip says that surveillance maps show that in the centre of the ruins, a hole leads down into an underground tunnel. We follow that, and it takes us to what we want. It's a tomb, remember; which means that we most likely won't have an easy job when we're down there." she instructed, entering a half-broken arch that led into the ruined building. "Good thing we have a tomb raider, then." Kurtis said, catching up to her. Lara turned around and offered a small smile before walking backwards a few steps, then turning around to walk into the centre of the ruins.

She scanned the ground, smiling as she spotted the hole that led to the tunnel. She hopped in, grunting as she bent her knees as she landed, the hole being deeper than she had estimated in the first place. She pulled a flare out of her backpack, hitting it off her leg to light it and throwing it forward in one swift movement, lighting most of the passage before her. She heard some rocks crumble behind her, and then Kurtis grunt as he landed in the passage.

She walked forward until the tunnel narrowed, eventually having to get down on all fours and crawl forward, lighting another flare in front of them. Soon enough, she was forced to get down flat on her stomach, combat crawling through the rest of the passage, "Are you sure this is the right place?" Kurtis asked. _"Positive."_ Alister answered over the headset. "It's just a bit...small." he laughed, pulling himself along the narrow passage. Lara stopped for a minuet, groaning as she spotted no further way forward, a group of boulders covering the path. She briefly glanced behind her, seeing Kurtis' head almost at her feet. She turned back forward, "I can't see any other way past." she muttered. "These rocks cover this path. We need to go back." she said, cramming her head to look back at Kurtis. "We can't," he said, pulling closer. "There's no room, we'll end up getting squashed to death." he didn't move any closer, or go back, realising that it would risk the tunnel caving in on them. "If we move back it'll come down on us."

Lara gritted her teeth as she faced their exit, scanning over it, looking for a way to get in. She sighed deeply, moving back a bit and bending her elbow. She thrust it out, trying to crack the boulders into making a path forward. Dust slowly soared from the top rock, and Lara hit them with her elbow again, feeling her skin crack as she did so. She repeated the action again, smiling triumphantly as the boulders began to fall down the opposite side. For one last time, she threw her elbow at the rocks, blood beginning to slither down her arm from her elbow as she smiled to herself. The crimson liquid dripped to the stone ground as she lay on her front again, pulling herself forward.

She easily shoved some more loose rocks out of the way, standing up as she came to a wider opening. She gazed around the room, glancing down at Kurtis as he pulled himself up from the ground, dusting off the dirt that covered his clothing. Lara ignored the stinging that came from the cut in her elbow as she scanned over her surroundings, checking for any sign of danger. _Nothing out of the ordinary,_ she thought. Then again, things in tombs were always placed in a precise location, so that when they suddenly struck out of their hiding place, they would catch you off guard, hopefully making you their prey. She spotted a small stone block up against the back wall in the room, and, wary of the steps she took, Lara advanced towards the pedestal, reaching out for the object placed on it. Thinking things through, she snatched her hand back, turning back to Kurtis. With a silent agreement between the pair, she turned back around, slowly lifting the sword off the block. She held it tightly in her hand, turning back to get out of there as quickly as possible, all too aware that this tomb surely held more than a simple narrow passage.

She stepped down the few steps that were there, stopping at the end, warily glancing about the room. "Something isn't right," she said, "It's too unprotected. Something should have jumped out of somewhere, or something should be guarding the sword...and the Knights Templar surely should know all about that." she looked around, narrowing her eyes on every spot. "The Knights Templar didn't host tombs like other ancients. And if the Templar didn't put out to protect things underground, then the Lux would only do less. Only small bits of heritage was passed on the the Lux Veritatis from the Knights Templar; they barely have anything in common." Kurtis pointed out. "Besides, physics don't usually have tombs like your ones." he smiled faintly.

"But cults usually do." Lara muttered, more to herself for Kurtis.

"You have to remember that Lux are only part of an order that splinted off from the Knights Templar, therefore we don't need to have that much in common." Kurtis carried on, trying to convince her that nothing was wrong. "I don't care about your heritage from the Templar, Kurtis, the fact is that the Lux is related to them, which is what I'm worried about."

"_She has a point, Kurtis."_ Alister said over the headset. _"Templar knights were incredibly skilled fighters. So when it came to final resting places, they didn't want proud knights to be disturbed._"

Lara didn't like this one bit; nothing had happened in the few minuets that they had been in there. Nothing had collapsed, no traps were triggered and no creatures jumped out of the shadows. It didn't match up. Lara let her worries go, walking towards the exit, Kurtis walking in sync with her. Suddenly, the room began to shake violently, heavy boulders falling from the roof. Lara turned to Kurtis, a look on her face which seemed to say 'told you so'. They both sprinted to reach the tunnel, but two large rocks fell over it, stopping them from exiting. Lara jumped back as she startled when she felt water at her feet, looking around to see the room filling up with bucket loads of water. Frantically, she glanced around the room, searching for an escape route. "Lara!" Kurtis shouted over to her, and she turned around to see him standing next to a hole in the wall. He nodded his head towards it, and she waded towards him, ducking through the hole. Kurtis followed, beginning to swim forward as the water level rose. Soon, the pair were up to their neck in water, already floating up as the water rose. Lara turned to Kurtis, and quickly gazed into his eyes. She nodded her head, and after a big intake of breath, she dove under the water, swimming forward as fast as she could.

She struggled against the current, and with every stroke she took forward, she was pushed back. Her lungs burned as she saw Kurtis catch up with her, along with the muscles in her arms aching already from pulling her along. She saw something move to her left our of the corner of her eye, and she stopped where she was, wading in the water. She reached out and grabbed Kurtis' arm, making him stop from going any further. He turned around to look at her, confused as to why she stopped him. She nodded her head towards it, and the look on her face seemed to say 'trap'. She stayed there for a minuet, pushing Kurtis forward as she watched the mechanism, timing when it would spring up. Kurtis quickly darted past it, and Lara kept her eyes on the unmoving blade. She went to the ceiling of the passage – the tunnel now filled up with water – trying to get as far away from the blade as possible. She banged her hand against the wall, and her grip around the sword slackened, enough to let the sword grasped within it fall out.

Lara's eyes widened as she made it past the spot with the blade, but she stopped for a moment, getting ready to go back and get the sword; which was now lying on the floor, right next to the blade. She slowly swam down, eyeing the blade carefully. Then, she quickly stretched outwards, grabbing the sword. The blade sprang up as she pulled away, cutting at her forearm. She erupted a scream of agony in the water, and gripped her arm before putting the sword in her backpack. Quickly, she turned around, kicking her legs as fast as possible. She quickly caught up with Kurtis, and he soon led the way, hoping to find them a way out of the tomb.

Lara felt like her lungs had evaporated in her chest, and soon she was heaving to breathe air that was nowhere to be found. She quickly looked down a corridor on her left, and was met by the jaws of an alligator opening, Lara speeding up just in time to miss it's grasp. She sprinted forward in the water, her lungs begging for air as she sped up. She tapped Kurtis on the shoulder, her eyes daring a glance back at their predator before she carried onwards, seeing light shine through a hole above her. Kurtis was now at her side, the alligator right on his and Lara's tail. He spotted the hole in the ceiling, and his speed increased, trying to reach the hole before he either ran out of breath or the alligator behind them got too close for their liking. He peered up at it as he reached it, seeing the sunlight shine down into the water. He quickly surfaced, gasping for air before he pulled himself out of the water, reaching in to grab Lara's hand. He caught it as she reached up, gulping in the fresh air. Lara felt her lungs inflate as Kurtis pulled her out of the water, and they lay down on the ground, panting for breath, the hot Spanish sun beaming down on them. She saw a claw reach up out of the water and Lara quickly stood up, firing several shots down at their follower until blood floated the pool of water.

She turned to Kurtis, taking the sword out of her backpack. "Feel better now?" he asked.

"Much." she smiled.

* * *

**AN: OK, so for starters, the whole thing between the Lux and the Knights Templar is totally true. The Lux Veritatis are descendants of the Templar. They're a group of the cult that went their own way, and you get the rest XD**

**So, sorry for the late update (again :-P ) but I've already started the next one, so fear not!!! See you Wednesday!**


	19. Irritable Revelations

**AN: OK, guys, I am INCREDIBLY sorry about the late update, but I DO have my reasons: My laptop broke down, meaning all my files were erased, so, I had to reboot my laptop, and there was a lack in the rebooting which let me get my fanfic files onto the network, and then once I reinstalled windows, I managed to move the files to my laptop...this took about...3 days??? But, THIS chapter had been erased for some reason, I don't know why, but ANYWAY. Once I got to nearly finishing it again, a HUGEEEE blizzard comes and wipes my internet away, and it's not just MY internet it happened to, it happened ALLLLL the way across Fife. So, at least for once I have a decent excuse XD**

**But, hopefully, if stuff like that don't happen again, then I should be able to update on time, seen as it's the holidays now, woo!**

**Anyway, this is a relatively short chapter, but with lots of info, so, read on! **

* * *

Mason gazed out of the window of his Edinburgh manor. The stars were bright in the sky, them and the moon acting as the only light casting it's way into the grounds of the house. He stared off into the distance, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. It was now just past midnight. Morgan had retired to bed a few hours ago, along with Lara's two friends, and Mason found himself waiting alone for the pair to come home. He saw something up in the sky, and narrowed his eyes as a helicopter flew closer to the manor. He turned away quickly, grabbing a Glock 22 that lay on the coffee table in the centre of the room. He holstered it._ Just in case, _he thought. Turning back to the window, he trained his eyes as the helicopter flew over the gate, lowering down into the house's grounds.

Mason stealthed his way over to the door, gripping at the handle of his gun as he stopped at a small window beside the front door. He pulled his gun out of it's holster and peered behind the curtains that covered the window. The chopper landed, and the door opened, two figures jumping down from the cockpit. Mason breathed relief when he recognised Lara and Kurtis walking towards the house. He holstered his pistol, jogging to the front door and opening it wide, feeling the cold December air hit him as he walked outside. Lara waved goodbye to the pilot, turning and smiling subtly to Mason as he approached them. "Any luck?" he asked quickly. Lara reached a hand into her backpack, removing it to reveal the sword. She threw it over to him, Mason catching it easily and pocketing it. Lara then pulled something out of the back pocket of her combats, holding another sword piece in the air. "We've got the replica, too," she pointed out, "But do you plan on telling me where we're going to keep _both _of the sword fragments? I mean; we need to keep them safe from Karel, even the replica." her and Kurtis walked closer to Mason, passing him as they lead the way into the house. Mason turned and waved a final goodbye to the pilot, following the pair into the house.

He closed the front door, locking it shut. "If we're going to let Karel get the replica of the sword, then we still need to _act _like we want to protect it, even though there is no need." she continued.

"Sounds like a good enough plan." Mason agreed. He and Kurtis watched as Lara departed them, walking up the stairs, practically dragging her feet up the stairs. Kurtis smiled lightly as she turned around to gaze down at them, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips before she disappeared into her bedroom, ready for some well earned sleep. Mason and Kurtis headed towards the stairs, both equally tired. Kurtis walked up the stairs with his Lux Veritatis brother, heading towards their rooms slowly. "Any luck on finding anything about Cappadocia?" he asked.

"We've found some interesting information about it, yes, but it's best that you two get your rest. We'll talk about it tomorrow morning, along with the location of the other half of the shield." Mason yawned, stopping outside of his bedroom. "That's fine with me." Kurtis chuckled, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. He turned away from Mason, walking up the hall. He stopped as he passed Lara's door, resting his hand on the handle. He heard Mason chuckle, and looked up to see him smiling over at him. "I take it everything is back to...normal with you two." he grinned. Kurtis returned the gesture, shaking his head in amusement. "Better than ever." he agreed.

Mason chuckled lightly before opening his own door, heading in to get some rest before the challenges the next day would bring. Kurtis turned back to the door, knocking lightly before entering the room.

He saw Lara sitting on the edge of the bed, tying a knot in a bandage over the slit on her forearm. She looked up at him, "Is something wrong?" she asked. Kurtis moved slightly, so that Lara could see his attractive features over the faint shine of the hallway light.

"My bed doesn't seem as cosy as yours." he grinned.

Lara grinned back, getting up and opening the door fully for him. She turned her back to him, moving over to the bed. She kicked her boots off and crawled over the covers. Sleep had never seemed so blissful. She pulled the covers over her body, closing her eyes, ready to wait for sleep to overcome her. She opened her eyes again, looking up at Kurtis as he lifted his top over his head, getting in the bed beside her. She turned her back to him, and she felt Kurtis' hand slide down her forearm before reaching for her own hand, entwining his fingers with her own. She didn't find it difficult to fall asleep that night.

* * *

Alister flopped the paper in his hands down onto the dining table, looking up to see Lara and Kurtis join him, Zip, Mason and Morgan at the table, ready for a quick briefing on where the shield was, along with more information on the portal that lied in Cappadoia. Lara sat herself next to Morgan, while Kurtis just continued to stand behind Lara's chair. He wanted to get right down to business; he didn't want to give Karel a reason to live any longer than what was needed.

Mason wasn't one to idle, so he took a cup of coffee in his hands from the table, and got straight to the facts. "So, Alister and I have made some progress while the two of you were in Spain yesterday." he started. "Although what we've found out may not be the best thing in the world." his gaze slowly set on Lara, and she narrowed her eyes at him in confusion. He looked away, turning his attention back to all of the group again. "At first, we thought that the portal in Cappadocia is what unleashed the Nephilim on Earth. We thought that it was a portal that lead the way to hell. It turns out we were wrong. We need to get in there to prevent Karel from doing what he needs to do."

"Wait, I thought we were supposed to avoid going in there at all costs?" Morgan spoke up.

"So did we," Alister took over from Mason. "At first, we thought that Nephili lurked in this portal, but it's no where near as close to hell as we thought. It's merely a....staging area, if you will."

"So what do we need to do?" Kurtis asked.

"We still have to get the rest of the artefacts, as we already know." Mason took the spotlight again. "But what we've found out is that they are associated with the portal. They need to feed off the power emitting from it in order for them to work. Think of it as _huge _telekinetic power. Greater than what our minds could ever produce. If we get in there, and set the weapons up, then the power will flow into them. That should be enough to take care of Karel." he put it simply, as if it were just any other job.

"So that shouldn't be so hard...?" Lara let her question hang.

"If we can get in there and do what we need to do, then get out of the portal, we should have nothing to worry about." Mason said.

"So we just make it quick. We get in there, set the weapons up, get out and kill Karel with the power within the sword." Lara said, standing up.

"Yes, but, I'm afraid, when I said 'we', Lara, I meant Lux...you can't...get through the portal."

"What?" Lara asked, taken aback.

"The telekinetic power being produced in the portal has an effect on it's surroundings, making it only possible for physic minds to get in. You'll have to stay outside while they power the sword up." Alister said regretfully. "Your mind couldn't handle the pressure being put onto it...your mind would literally explode."

"So what am I supposed to do? Just sit and fight Karel off while you three are in there?" she could feel the anger rising in her blood. She didn't like this – at all.

"Well, yes." Mason said. "Even if you did get through the portal, you would most immediately...well, die."

"And how exactly is Lara supposed to hold Karel off?" Kurtis said. "It's not as if she's a match for someone who comes back to life every five minuets once he's killed. He would kill her in an instant."

"We know that, but it isn't our fault." Mason turned to face Lara, "If you can hold the merks and Karel off for ten minuets tops, you'll be fine. We won't need longer than that to do the job."

"Ten minuets?" Morgan scoffed. "First of all, what if we have no idea in hell where we're going in there, second of all, what if Karel follows us in there, and third of all, you seem to be forgetting that you'll have _me _with you, and I'm not known to be someone that's easy to handle."

"We're sorry, Lara, but you're going to have to trust us that we do okay on this." Mason said, taking another sip of his coffee and also ignoring Morgan's comment.

"Of course." Lara said through gritted teeth, "So where is the next part of the shield?"

"Poland." Alister said. "In fact, we've made a convenient discovery. You two can get both the shield and the next part of the sword in one go." he smiled.

"Well that makes our job easier." Kurtis said.

"The locals up in Warsaw are always saying how they believe there is an underground cave below their houses, and these hold glowing artefacts that can kill anything; mortal or immortal. These glowing artefacts turn out to be _our _glowing artefacts. But we won't have to worry about any tourists being in the cave whilst you're under there, it's just an old wives' tale."

"So why should we believe it?" Lara asked, biting a bit of toast from her breakfast plate.

"You've came across many old wives' tales in your time, Lara, and they've all become true, so I don't see no reason to treat this one any less."

"So my guess is that if we leave early enough, then we can get both of them with time to spare, and when we get back, you two might have the location of the final sword fragment..." Kurtis sighed.

"We're already working on it," Mason said, standing up, "we don't want to spend more time on this than what is absolutely necessary. After you get these two artefacts, and once we've found out the location of the next sword fragment, we're all set to go to Cappadocia."

"Good. Then let's get going, shall we?" Lara got up from the table, turning around to start heading back upstairs. She clenched her teeth as she ran her hand up the banister while she walked. How the hell was she supposed to sit by and wait? They were asking her to hold off someone who couldn't be killed, now, the last time she checked, doing that could probably kill her within minuets; no, even _seconds._ Did they even know her at all? She couldn't let someone else take control! She couldn't just wait for them to do the work, while she stood helplessly, waiting for them to return. _What if they don't return, _she thought. At this, she balled a fist, punching the banister as she continued up the stairs. The idea of being so helpless, disposable, even, drew her mad. What _if _they didn't return? What would she do? She couldn't let them die in there! And she'd already lost Kurtis once, she couldn't do it again. And Morgan – she was only _fifteen. _All this was bound to be putting a strain on her. The fact was, Lara wasn't able to help. She _needed _to know what was going on in there when it happened, so she could help if there was anything needed to be helped with. But outside, she would be fighting off numerous amounts of mercenaries and Karel, all while they had a 'short trip' to another dimension.

She brought her mind away from the topic as she entered her temporary bedroom, opening the door to slam it shut behind her. She immediately went to the wooden wardrobe, opening the door to grab her suitcase before throwing it on the floor, making her way over to the dresser beside her bed. She opened one of the drawers, throwing her clothes into the suitcase. She closed the drawer shut, bending down to pick the case up and she placed it roughly on her bed, zipping it shut. She heard her door open behind her, looking up to see Kurtis enter her room, softly closing the door behind him. "Hey," he said calmly

. "Hello." she returned coldly. "There is such a thing as knocking, you know." she said, lifting her suitcase up, only for the zip to come undone. She groaned, lifting it back onto the bed.

"You okay?" Kurtis asked, leaning against the wall.

"I'm fan-bloody-tastic." she muttered, trying to get to the door before she blew up. Kurtis pushed off the wall, standing in front of her, preventing her from getting any further. "Look, Lara." he sighed. "It might not be so bad; you not going into the portal."

"That's just a matter of opinion." she whispered, trying to make her way past him. He blocked her path completely. "Kurtis, you _know _that I can't just sit by while the rest of you go in and, well...take care of business. This is _my _job, just as much as it is the rest of yours."

"I know." he sympathised with her, "But there isn't anything we can do."

"Unfortunately," she sighed, looking up into his eyes, "It's Karel, I just don't know if you can handle him."

"What?"

"_I _was the one who killed him, at least, _thought _I killed him. I just feel so angry, as if this is all my doing."

"You can't possibly blame yourself for Karel rising again."

"No? Then how is it that we're in this predicament again?"

"You need to stop putting so much pressure on yourself." he sighed. "We'll take care of him."

"Pressure?" she scoffed. "If pressure is trying to save the whole human race, then I beg to differ. Karel is not to be taken lightly, Kurtis, and you of all people should know that."

"Do you not think you're overreacting a bit too much on this?"

"Hardly," she scoffed.

"I know you're afraid." he said. "I know you're afraid that something will be going on in that portal, and you can't do anything about it."

Lara searched his eyes, "Afraid? I have nothing to be afraid of."

"You're afraid of whatever will be going on in that portal, and you will have no ability to do anything to prevent or help it happen. Or even the slightest bit of knowledge."

Lara tried to hold his gaze, challenging him with her eyes to prove him that he was totally wrong. The only problem was, he was totally right. She'd never known another person who could read her like an open book like he could. "I've already lost you once." she sighed. "That's once too many. I don't know if I can do it again. If I could just know what was going on in there while it happened..."

"The fact is that you can't." Kurtis interrupted. "You're going to have to believe Mason when he says that we won't be long, and for once, you are going to _have _to trust me."

Lara sighed, looking down at the floor before pulling her head up to face him again. "You're right," she sighed softly. She leaned forward, slowly kissing him on the lips before she pulled away, lifting her suitcase up again. She exited the room, Kurtis following, both wanting this war that had lasted generations to end.

* * *

**AN: Awww, poor ol' Lara. She just wants to be in control of EVERYTHING!**

**OK, so, I've changed my plans, I'll updated on different days, because this newer plan DID not work, so, I'll catch you guys on Sunday, the 27th of December...that's if, y'know, you're not away with the family :-P**

**Oh, and I hope you all have a nice Christmas, BTW :-D**


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